
Class ElSLSlL 



J ' _____& 



«2i 

THE PAST, 



THE 



PRESENT AND THE FUTURJ 



OP 



THE PACIFIC. 



BY 

JAMES M. CRANE. 



SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. : 

PRINTED BY STERETT & CO., NO. Ill WASHINGTON STRI 



1856. 



€^ 



/ 
THE PAST, 



THE V<^/^ 



PRESENT km THE FUTURE 



OF 



THE PACIFIC. 



BY / 

JAMES M. CRANE 



SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. : 

PRINTED BY STERETT & CO., NO. Ill WASHINGTON STREET. 



1856. 



54690 



Entered according to an Act cf Congress, in the year 1856, 

By JAMES M.. CRANE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court, for Northern California. 






PEEFACE. 



In presenting this small work to the public, I am but complying 
with the wishes of those friends, for whose opinions I entertain, 
and have always entertained, a very high respect. Some of them 
are friends whose acquaintance I formed in 1849, and our relations 
to each other, have been most amicable ever since. The most of 
them have, like myself, made the North Pacific their permanent 
homes. We have all experienced many reverses and vicissitudes, 
since we took up our residence in this country, but we have lived 
however, long enough, to see a powerful State of the American 
Union formed on this side of the continent, and we hope to live long 
enough to see many more added to it. Although many of us have 
lost every thing we possessed in the world, in attempting to build 
up this country, yet we feel gratified to know that we have, by 
our labors, enriched millions in our former homes, as well as en- 
larged the resources, revenues, area, and power of our common 
country. 

The Parent Government has been, unfortunately, too oppressive 
towards us in its laws and policy, to enable many of us to boast 
of possessing much of this world's wealth. We have been made, 
ever since we resided on these Pacific shores, mere " hewers of 
wood and drawers of water " to the Government at Washington 
and our brethren on the Atlantic side of the continent. They have 
been our oppressive taskmasters ever since we resided here, and 
we have served them most faithfully, and we shall never get free 
from their tyranny and oppression, until we take measures to de- 
fine our position and defend ourselves. This is strong talk, but 
we mean all we say. Let not the United States Government 
forget the lesson our ancestors taught Great Britain, when she, in 
the pride of her power, forced them to define their position and 
to defend themselves. The result of that contest is now a matter 
of history, and we are all familiar with it. 

In this small work wc can only give in fact, but a synopsis of a 



part of our intended publication on the " Past, the Present, and 
the Future of the Pacific." Our complete work will probably be 
ready for the press in the course of three months. In that work, 
we shall present some facts which we hope will not only arrest 
the especial attention of our countrymen, in every part of this 
Union, and the General Government, but the entire civilized world. 
We hope to develop new fields for commercial enterprise, and 
new objects for the contemplation and serious action of the Parent 
Government. Our present condition is one of great anxiety, and 
we are exceedingly concerned to know, whether we shall be com- 
pelled to look to the National Government for safety and protec- 
tion, or whether we shall have to depend upon ourselves. This 
question will have shortly to be met and settled. For the facts 
contained in our present work, we must refer the reader to the 
statements made in the publication. We hope they Avill be care- 
fully read and well digested, by all those who love our country, 
our whole country, however bounded, as still our country; and who 
are ready to defend her with all their hearts and hands. 

The present publication contains the substance of the two lec- 
tures, which I recently delivered in San Francisco and Sacra- 
mento. 



CHAPTER I. 



In presenting this small work to the public, I trust I am influ- 
enced by no sordid or unworthy considerations. My hope is to 
benefit the people of the North Pacific, and promote the prosperity 
of the whole country. I trust it will be found to contain subjects 
not uninteresting, perhaps, to the humblest citizen of the United 
States. We are all inhabitants of a common country, and the 
majority of us " native and to the manor born," or adopted citizens 
of the most enlightened and powerful Republic the world has 
ever known. It is but natural, therefore, that we should feel a 
profound interest, in all that concerns her honor and the welfare 
and prosperity of her people. As we here on the Pacific coast, 
occupy a portion of the Union, remote from the seat of the Parent 
Government, we are more likely to stand in need of the fostering 
care and attention of the chief " Powers That Be," than perhaps 
any other part of this Union. Owing to this very remoteness 
from Washington, the General Government must often feel much 
embarrassed, when it is called upon to act and legislate for this 
country. The Federal Government, however, has evidently often 
been at fault in not seeking proper information. Its course to- 
wards us in numerous instances has been marked by acts of injus- 
tice, for which there can be no excuse. It is my purpose, in this 
book, to point out these acts of injustice, and to unite with all 
good men in having them brought to the notice and attention of 
the Federal Government, as well as to the serious consideration of 
the people of the Atlatic States. I also propose to present some 
interesting facts, counectd with the condition and progress of this 
portion of the North American Union. 

It is not often we refer to the humiliating relations, in which 
we, on the Pacific, have been placed, by the action of Congress 
and the Federal Executive, in reference to our judicial, commercial, 
and political affairs. It is not often we refer to their discriminations 



6 

against us; of their not placing us on an equality with our sister 
States and Teritories on the other side of the Continent ; of their 
gross neglect of us and of the repeated injuries they have done to 
the rights and property of the inhabitants of this country. All 
of these grievances we have patiently borne. It is now our 
purpose, however, to speak out and demand redress of grievances, 
as well as to inform them that their conduct towards us is not to 
our liking, and that we are unwilling longer to submit quietly 
to these flagrant wrongs. 

Since California was purchased from Mexico — while she was a 
conquered province, (for she never was a Territory) under a milita- 
ry government, and since she has become an integral member of the 
Union, it has been the uniform practice and policy of the " Powers 
That Be," at Washington, to treat this part of our common country 
as if our State and the Territories adjacent, had no claims upon 
the Federal Government to be regarded as standing on an equality 
with the States and Territories on the Atlantic side. This was 
the practice and the policy of the Government under Presidents 
Polk and Fillmore, and the same course has been invariably pur- 
sued towards us, by the Government under President Pierce. 
Indeed it appears to have been from the beginning, and is still 
now, a settled conviction with all parties and all public men in 
"Washington, that the people of the Pacific Coast are personally 
and politically, every way inferior to their brethren in the 
Atlantic States, and that the State of California itself, although a 
member of the federal compact, is not equal. in all things with the 
rest of her sister States. To prove that we are not slandering 
the " Powers That Be," in Washington, let us appeal to the truth 
of history, in support of the declarations we have made. 

During the short session of Congress of 184;8-1849. President 
Polk recommended to that body the propriety of organizing a 
territorial government in California. Right on the heel of this 
proposition there came another one, from several members of both 
Houses, recommending the passage of an act authorizing the sale 
of all the mineral lands of this State. The proposition of Presi- 
dent Polk was of course rejected, although it elicited a long and 
warm discussion in both houses. The second proposition, how- 
ever, was considered a capital one — just the thing to put money 
into the General Treasury. A law to this effect would certainly 
have passed had the session not been so near its close. The only 



idea which then occupied the minds of all the public men in 
Washington, was the fact, that California was rich in mineral 
resources, and tliat all of their legislation ought therefore, to be so 
directed, as to make these resources £).vailable to the General Gov - 
ernment, and not to those who had at great risk and peril immi- 
grated to this remote portion of the Union. No law could be 
passed to protect us in our persons and property. They would 
permit us to have no government, whatever, and yet they imposed 
on us heav}' taxes, to support that v* ery Government to which alone 
we could look for safety and protection. Indeed the Government 
acted as if it intended to cast us adrift upon the world, to shift 
for ourselves, while at the same time, it demanded of us acquies- 
cence in, and obedience to, the laws of the United States. The 
only acts that Congress would consent to pass having reference 
to this country, was one extending over California the Revenue 
Laws of the United States, and one providing for the collection 
of postage on letters and papers in Oregon and California. 

And as if it was the purpose of the General Government not to 
allow the Collector of the District of California, any latitude or 
independence whatever, the Collecting District of San Francisco, 
which then included the whole State, was attached to the Collect- 
ing District of New Orleans. Instead of the Collector of this 
Port acting as an independent officer of the Customs, under the 
orders of the Secretary of the Treasury he was made a sub-collector 
of the Collector of New Orleans. Of course this ridiculous ar- 
rangement led to endless confusion and embarrasment to the 
people of California, to the Collector of San Francisco, and to 
the General Government itself. Besides all this. Col. Collier the 
first Civil Collector, was by the difficulties which surrounded his 
position, kept in constant hot water. This act was, however, 
in the course of one year repealed by Congress and in lieu of it, 
there were erected three independent collecting districts in 
California, viz : San Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego. 

The law providing for the collection of postage on letters and 
papers, was a gross outrage on the people of this country. The 
tariff of postage was raised so high under this act of Congress, 
that the receipts of the Post Office of San Francisco, alone, per 
annum were, for the space of three years, larger than that of any 
one Post Office in the United States, with the exception of New 
York city, and yet New York boasted of a population of over 



8 

600,000, while San Francisco could not at any time during these 
three years have had much over 35 or 40,000. What is still more 
strange, New York had numerous daily mails from almost every 
part of the Atlantic States, and one mail per week from Europe, 
South and Central America, the Islands of the Atlantic, and 
about every other day from all the British Provinces; while Cali- 
fornia for the most of this time, was blest with only one mail each 
month or twelve mails per annum. Even with the present reduced 
rates of postage, the amount of revenue derived from California 
by the Post Office Department, is immense when compared with 
other States. There are only four States of this Union that pay 
more postage revenue into the Department than California, and 
yet she has a population not over perhaps 400,000, while the 
other States that exceed her in revenue can count their population 
by millions. The following are the States that exceed her in 
postage revenue, viz: New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and 
Ohio. There are only three states that pay a larger net revenue 
than California, viz: New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. 
The states of North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, 
and Delaware, having an aggregate population of two millions and 
a quarter, in 1854 combined paid the Department $248,581, while 
California, with a population not over four hundred thousand, 
alone, during the same year, paid the Post Office Department 
$256,188, being |8,607 more than these six States mentioned 
above paid altogether. For each Representative in Congress dur- 
ing the year 1854, the Post Master General's, report exhioited the 
following extraordinary state of things. The average amount of 
postage paid for each Representative in Congress, by California, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York is thus stated: 

California paid f 128,094. 

Massacliiisttts paid 46,500. 

Connecticut " 42,300. 

New York " 40,671. 

It will be thus seen by official documents that California alone, 
pays three times as much postage revenue per annum, for each 
Representative, into the Post Office Department as New York. 
The average amount of postage to each inhabitant of New 
York city, under the present postage rates, is 98 cents to each in- 
habitant, and in San Francisco, $1 ,86. The amount collected from 
box rents in New York city, is $26,000 per annum, and in San 



Francisco, $30,000 per annum. And yet the Post Master General 
writes to California, that "no arrangement can be consented to 
which will diminish the revenue of the Post Office of San Fran- 
cisco." We will probably let Mr. Campbell see, before long, 
whether such an arrangement cannot be made. He had better 
use a little milder and more respectful language to the people 
of California, hereafter, when he undertakes to write any 
more letters out to this country. The postage rates fixed by law 
charges only three cents for each letter, in all the Atlantic States 
and Territories, while it compels the people of California, Oregon, 
and Washington, to pay ten cents on every letter. 

The laws above referred to were, as we have said before, the 
only acts Congress would consent to pass, having reference to 
California, and they were solely designed to enure to the benefit 
of the General Government. This was the way Congress com- 
menced legislating for the Pacific. The officers appointed to 
execute these laws, enforced them to the letter, and they exacted 
every dollar they could from our people. Such was the course of 
the General Government towards California, under the adminis- 
tration of President Polk. Now let us see what it was under 
President Taylor. 



CHAPTER II. 



President Taylor, or Old Zac, as he was familiarly called, strong- 
ly sympathized with the hardy pioneers of California, in their 
anomolous and unprotected condition. He had been the most of 
his life, living among the pioneers of the West and South-west, 
and he could appreciate their wants and the many disadvantages 
under which they always had to labor. After he was inaugurated 
President, he took the earliest opportunity to communicate the 
deep sympathy and interest he felt for us. He sent an agent 
here to say, that if the people of California should feel disposed 
to take the responsibility upon themselves to form a State Gov- 
ernment, he would use all of his official and personal influence to 
have our new State admitted into the Union. The people, how- 
ever, had determined to do this very thing, before they had heard 
1* 



10 

from the President, yet tbey felt gratified to know that President 
Taylor was not only with them, but that he approved of their 
action. A State Convention was called by proclamation from 
Gen. Riley, the Military Governor of the Province. That Con- 
vention adopted a State Constitution and it was submitted to the 
people, and by them approved. At the same time, two Representa- 
tives to Congress were elected, also a Governor, Lieutenant 
Governor, and Members of both Houses of the State Legislature. 
The Legislature met in San Jose, in the latter part of December, 
in 1849, and organized the State Government and elected two 
United States Senators. Our Senators and Representatives left 
us for Washington on the first of January, 1850, with our State 
Constitution, to apply for the admission of California into the 
Union. 

They submitted the Constitution to the President and he com- 
municated it to Congress, and pressed upon both Houses the pro- 
priety and justice of our admission into the Union. He told 
them that the preceding Congress had left us without any pro- 
tection whatever, to our persons and property; that it had neglect- 
ed to provide a Territorial Government for California, and that 
the people of California, in taking the responsibility upon them- 
selves to establish a State Government, had done no more than 
was to have been expected from them. Now what was the action 
of Congress on receiving this Constitution, and the President's 
Message which accompanied it ? How did it treat our application 
for "admission as a State into the Union ? The facts show that the 
proposition was by a large body of the members of both houses of 
Congress, hissed and scouted at. They charged that our prayer 
for admission, contained an unheard of request; that it was inso- 
lent and impudent. Some went so far as to charge us with being 
a gang of outlaws, from all countries; that our poeple were princi- 
pally composed of Indians, Negroes, Hottentots, and Kanakas. 
This description of our countrymen reminds us of Tom Moore's 
account of Norfolk, Va. He said the inhabitants of that city 
were made up of" dogs, niggers and democrats." 

The excitement produced by our application, it was soon found 
could be turned to account; could be made the means of giving 
notoriety and prominence to certain aspirants for the Presidency. 
All their satelites and understrappers were required to set up a 
great commotion against our prayer for admission and to proclaim 



11 

that the Union was in danger. Suddenly and unexpectedly the 
proposition for the admission of California, became unnecessarily 
mixed up witli the Slavery agitation. Northern men and South- 
ern men determined to fill, if possible, the measure of their fame 
over the excitement. The whole country became profoundly and 
sensibly agitated and alarmed. For a while the stability of the 
Union really did appear to be in peril, as for months in Wash- 
ington, the political storm continued to shake and disturb the 
repose of the country. There 

" System with system waged horrible discord, 
And the maddening wheels of brazen fury raged." 

Indeed many supposed that the Union was about at an end; 
that anarchy was already beginning to wave its horrid scepter 
over the broken altars of the Republic. But fortunately for these 
agitators, they discovered in time the fact that they would be 
the lirst to suffer for their rashness. Their persecution of Gen. 
Taylor, because he refused to become a party to their schemes, led 
to his death. The people knew that these agitators and conspiri- 
tors, were the cause of the death of this noble old soldier and 
patriot, and they resented the outrage. Immediately on the heel 
of his death, came the declaration from all parts of California, 
announcing to the Government, the important fact, that unless our 
State was very soon admitted into the Union, we would organize 
an Independent Republic on this side of the Continent. These 
things had the desired effect. The North, and the South then 
made a compromise of their differences, and California was admit- 
ted into the Confederacy, and our Senators and Representatives 
were allowed to take their seats. 



CHAPTER III. 

The death of Gen. Taylor left us, with the exception of our 
Senators and Representatives, without any very especial friend or 
friends in Washington. Mr. Fillmore, who by the death of Gen. 
Taylor became President of the United States, always acted, we 
regret to say, as if he regarded California as a place for official 
plunder, to which he could send his understrappers, and favorites 



12 

to be fed and clothed by the people of California. In this way 
Californians have been compelled to feed and clothe many a worth- 
less loafer from the Atlantic States. And we are doing that very 
thing now, under the administration of President Pierce. Not 
a steamer arrives here from Panama, that does not bring out some 
favorite of the General Government, from the Atlantic States, 
with letters from the President, or some of his Secretaries to the 
Federal Officers in California, requesting that a place be provided 
for such and such a one. The request is always understood as an 
order. Of course these Atlantic officers cannot be provided for 
here, unless a Californian is dismissed from the service, to make 
room for them. Such conduct on the part of the " Powers That 
Be," in Washington, is a flagrant outrage on our people, and an 
insult to this State. This practice of shipping officers out here 
from Washington, to displace Californians, had better be stopped, 
or the General Government may find, that we will take means to 
put a stop to it ourselves. 

On becoming Pesident, Mr. Fillmore acted as if he intended to 
take the earliest opportunity to show his contempt for us. He 
could find no man in California to fill the place of Collector of the 
Port of San Francisco, except one who had voluntarily expatria- 
ted himself from the State; and one too whom the people here had 
distinctly and repeatedly refused to confer honors upon. The 
Hon. Thomas Butler King, was appointed to that office and he 
and a whole ship-load of subordinate officials, were transported 
out here from the Atlantic States, at public expense, to displace 
men who had been the pioneers of the State. Some of the men 
displaced were the chief means of conquering and acquiring the 
Teritority from Mexico. A few evenings after their arrival in 
California, many of them had a grand drunk, in the Custom House 
together. Some twenty-five or thirty baskets of Champagne, and 
a large quantity of other kinds of liquors, very sudenly •' dried 
up " that night. They all had a high old time, well and they 
might, for they were the favorites of Uncle Sam, and of course 
they and the Federal authorities at Washington, could well cele- 
brate their triumph over the pioneers of the State. But where 
now are these pets of the Government. They are gone, all gone 
" back to the vile dust from whence they sprung." They are now 
living in the Atlantic States. There they will ever remain, 
" unwept and unhonored " by the. pioneers of California. The 



13 

old Californians, however, ■will never forget that insult to them, 
and to their State. As was to be expected, Mr. King became a 
defaulter, or was charged with being a defaulter. After holding 
the office about two years he resigned the Collcctorship, and once 
more left the country. 

There are some events connected with the brilliant career of 
Mr. King, in California, that we cannot omit preserving, for the 
especial benefit of the Federal Government and an inquiring 
posterity. The great fire of the 4th of May 1851, swept away 
full two thirds of the buildings of San Francisco, and among the 
number was the Custom House on the corner of Montgomery 
and California streets. The fourth of May, was a sad and melan- 
choly day, to the people of San Francisco. Millions of dollars 
had been lost by the people, and many felt that they were a 
doomed community. On the fifth of May, Mr. King succeded in 
renting the house, on the corner of Kearny and Washington 
streets, belonging to Messrs. Palmer, Cook & Co., for the Custom 
House. On the morning of the sixth of May, he assembled his 
force to remove the treasure from the vault of the ruins of the old 
Custom House building. They met about 11 o'clock in the 
morning, armed with cutlasses, and pistols, surrounded by a few 
carts. Mr. King mounted the walls of the vault, surrounded by 
two sentinels, and ordered his men, to prize open the door. They 
of course obeyed. One cart was filled. Then Mr. King gave 
orders to form line. Messrs. Hopkins and Green, Deputy Collec- 
tors, occupied the front of the army, Mr. King leading off, with a 
sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other. In this way they 
proceeded to remove the funds. It required several cart loads, to 
carry it away. 

By this time, the whole city was in a comomtion, and many 
became very indignant, as Mr. King's manner of removing the 
treasure, implied that he apprehended the people of San 
Francisco would undertake to rob the General Government, in 
broad daylight. Many an old rusty gun, and broken sword — 
many an old hoe-handle, spade and shovel was raised on that 
remarkable day, to salute the army, as it passed in triumph 
through Montgomery street I When the last load was on its way 
through Washington street, some wags started ahead of it, and 
induced the waiters in the Washington Street Restaurant, to 
make a charge on it with carving knives. As soon as they at- 



14 

tacked the train, some of the valiant army fled. The Collector, 
however, flourised his sword and pistol and again rallied his 
army, and finally reached his quarters in safety. This was a 
great victory of the General Government over the people of 
California, and a great triumph to Mr. Collector King. It was 
also an eventful and remarkable day in California. Indeed no 
age and no country, has ever witnessed such an extraordinary 
event ! As yet, we regret to say, Congress has never ordered a 
gold medal to be struck, in commemoration of that brilliant 
achievement! Some of the wags about town at that time had, I 
believe, some tin and pewter ones struck, at their own expense, in 
honor of that great event. 

Now it is said the French King had the assistance of ten thous- 
and men, to march up hill and then march down again ; but our 
brave United States Collector, in an enemy's city, with but a few 
troops and a partial supply of arms and ammunition, conducted 
several victorious marches from street to street, with his baggage 
wagons, without losing a dollar, and succeeded in safely deposit- 
ing his treasure, in the new Custom House vault. Cassar, Pom- 
pey, Xenophon, Alexander, Tamerlane, Ghengis-Khan Charle- 
magne, Washington, Napoleon, Wellington, Jackson, Scott, and 
Taylor, never accomplished such a magnificent militarj^ exploit ! 
We think this achievement ought to make his military abilities, 
ample for any emergency. The Custom House poet of that day, 
thus celebrated the event, in song and story : 

" The money had to be moved away ; 
So he summoiid his fighting men, one day. 
And fixed them all in marching array, 
Like a lot of mules hitched on to a dray, 

Ri Turin Ru ! 

Then he drew his revolver and told 'em to start, 
. But be sure to keep their eyes on the cart, 
And not b.e at all faint of heart. 
But to tread right up, and try to look smart ! 

Ri Turin Ru ! 

Then each man grasped his sword and gun, 
The babies squalled, and the women run, 
And all agreed, that the King was one 
Of the greatest warriors under the sun ! 

Ri Turin Ru "! 

The author of this celebrated song, is a Mr. Frank Ball, of Bos- 
ton. When it made its appearance, almost every one in town, 
that could sing, was singing it. Even the ladies played it on 



15 

the piano. At Clayton's Saloon, in Commercial St., where Mr. 
Ball resided, hundreds, night after night, collected to hear him 
sing and play it on the piano. 

Three raontlis after this brilliant military achievement was 
accomplished, there appeared a correspondence from Washington 
in Mr. King's organ, the Morning Post, published in San Francis- 
co, from which we make the following extract. After alluding 
to the revolutionary, and nullification feeling in South Carolina, 
which appeared to trouble the General Government very much, 
the correspondent says : — 

" I know of one man who, if he were in the cabinet, as he 
ought to be — and it was at one time* the general expectation and 
hope, that he would be called to preside over the Navy Depart- 
ment — would do much, very much, towards nerving up the arm 
of the General Government, to take such prompt and energetic 
steps, as would prevent South Carolina from marching out of the 
Union, or if she got out, would make a deplorable case of her, for 
the wicked act. "That man is Thomas Butler King, the present 
collector of the port of San Francisco. A leading and distin- 
guished Whig, who is the friend of President Fillmore, assured 
me recently, that he believed, that the only thing that the Admin- 
istration could do, to save itself, would be to send Mr. Secretary 
Graham abroad, and supply his place in the Cabinet, by the ap- 
pointment of Thomas Butler King." 

When this singular news reached us, all who read it were 
amazed, and felt not a little gratified to learn, such highly im- 
portant intelligence. They felt that Providence had paid a sig- 
nal favor to our State. To have among us the only man who 
could save the country, was an honor that we could not have ex- 
pected. When I read it I Avas very forcibly reminded of a similar 
case, that took place in one of the mountain counties in Old Vir- 
ginia. It was the county of Page, well known as one of the three 
counties that make up what is called the Tenth Legion, where it 
is said, the people are still voting for Gen. Jackson, for Presi- 
dent. 

A man by the name of McPhearson had represented that coun- 
ty for several years in the State Legislature. During his last term 
he became very dissipated. On his return he kept up this debauch 
for about three weeks. The effect of this long dissipation resulted 
in his being taken sick. His physician however succeeded in re- 
storing him from his sick bed a few days before the monthly court 
was to be held. This occurrence took place seme weeks after the 



16 

cholera had reached Quebec iu Canada. While Mac. was in this 
nervous condition, he had a dream one night, in which he imagined 
the Lord had appeared to him and informed him that if he did 
not reform, he would send the cholera from Quebec immediately 
to old Page county, for his benefit alone. Early in the morning 
of the fourth Monday" of the month, the regular day for the meet- 
ing of the County Court, Col. McPhearson made his appearance 
in the streets. He assembled the Dutch, for the people there are 
mostly all Dutch, and informed them that he was determined to 
reform — that the Lord had appeared to him in a dream during 
the past night and after painting cholera in letters of fire on the 
clouds, the Lord informed him that if he did not reform and become 
a true friend and savior to the Dutch, He would send the cholera 
from Quebec to old Page county, and he would be the only person 
who should be attacked with it. Of course this statement greatly 
surprised the Dutch. 

Doctor Thompson, a man of great influence, and withal a wag, 
listened to McPhearson with apparent astonishment. After he 
had finished his statement to the Dutch, the Doctor said that it 
was the strangest thing in the world, that the Lord should select 
a man in old Page county who should be the only person who could 
save the Dutch, Then said he, "Mac, I have always believed that we 
do not spell the English language correctly, and as the Lord does 
all things right, and has painted cholera in letters of fire on the 
clouds to you, how did He spell it ?" This was a poser to Mac. 
" Why," says Mac, " spell it — spell it — why he spelt it as it is in the 
papers." Thompson then appealed to the Dutch not to believe a 
word Mac. said, unless he told them how the Lord spelt cholera. 
The Dutch all responded that they would not believe a word he 
said unless he told them how the Lord spelt cholera. McPhear- 
son found that all his political prospects would be blasted with 
the Dutch, unless he satisfied them on this point. He therefore 
commenced to spell it, and started with a K and spelt it Kolry ! 

As McPhearson could not tell how the Lord spelt cholera, thus 
ended all his hopes of saving the Dutch, and as Mr. King could 
not get into the Navy Department, thus ended all his hopes of 
saving the country. 

Perhaps Mr. Fillmore and his Cabinet after they had heard of 
Mr. King's great military achievement iu San Francisco, and 
after 'they had read his celebrated Report on California, and 



It 

thought of the many political dangers which surrounded them, they 
felt the necessity of calling him to their aid. And as he was at 
that time holding but a subordinate post under the General Gov- 
ernment, they were no doubt forcibly reminded of the words of 
the great dramatic poet : 

"Sure He that made him (King) 
With such large discourse, 
Looking before and after, 
Gave liini not such God-like reasoa 
To rest in him unused." 

In Mr. King's Report on California, he informs the Federal Gov- 
erment that steam propellers, such propellers, for instance, as those 
gay old ocean loafers, the Chesapeake, (of blessed memory,) the Eu- 
dora, "Washington, Edith, Warren, Preble, <fec., &c., were the most 
suitable steamers to navigate the waters of the Pacific. What an 
idea ! It is a well known fact, that out of something like twenty 
steam propellers sent round to this country from the Atlantic 
States, more than two thirds of them either foundered at sea soon 
after they came here, or were cast away upon the shores of the 
Pacific. Their voyages have all ended. No more will they tra- 
verse the ocean and contend with the "bounding billows." They 
have gone down to a watery grave, never more to be resurrected. 
Farewell, old tubs, the days of your glory are over. May you 
slumber on the shores where you " caved in," surrounded by 
the roar of that ocean, whose waves now dash and die around 
you. The sea-gulls will sing your perpetual requiem, and make 
your broken fragments their dwelling-place and home. Again we 
say, farewell, old tubs. 

With all these evidences of Mr. King's foresight and abilities, 
President Fillmore might well suppose, that he could make a 
forced march into South Carolina, with only ten men, and con- 
quer that obstinate little State in one day. And with his ideas 
and opinions of Ocean Steam Navigation, he might make his pro- 
pellers sweep the seas, while the terrific roar of their cannon, 
would "cleave the broad main, and shake the astonished poles." 
But as the country was fortunately saved from dissolution and 
overthrow, without Mr. King's aid, that was the last of our val- 
iant Collector. 

It is evident, however, that Mr. King never would have cut 
such a ridiculous figure, in the removal of the treasure from the 
old Custom House vault to the new one, had he not considered 
2 



that he would have been reprimanded by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, had he neglected to use the means he did to guard 
the public funds. Mr. Corwin always said the people of Califor- 
nia were thieves, and that he could not trust any of us. For this 
reason, he sent out here a spy to watch us ; for this reason he re- 
fused to allow any of our people to hold office ; for this reason he 
shipped out here, men to fill all the places under the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Although I have commented rather severely upon Mr. 
King's conduct while Collector here, it is but just that I should 
vindicate his reputation in many respects. He was, with all his 
faults, deeply wronged by the Federal Administration, as well as 
by many of those who lived upon his bounty. He could have had 
reason at most any time in saying, " save me from the friends that 
surround me, and I will take care of my enemies." His appoint- 
ment was made under very peculiar circumstances. Mr. Fillmore 
first nominated Col. James Collier for re-appointment as Collec- 
tor of San Francisco, but he was rejected by the Senate. He 
then nominated a gentleman in Philadelphia, who refused to ac- 
cept. John A. Collier, and the friends of Col. James Collier, 
then urged Mr. Fillmore to appoint Mr. King. The President 
finally acceded to their request, and Mr. King was nominated 
to, and confirmed by the Senate. He came here, as I have be- 
fore said, to take possession of his office, with a whole ship load of 
subordinates, and immediately became a candidate for the Uni- 
ted States Senate. It is evident that he solicited this office as 
the candidate of the Federal Administration. What an outrage 
was this upon the State of California. Here was a man hold- 
ing the highest civil office in California, under the General 
Government, bringing to bear all the power and patronage of 
the Administration to have himself elected to the United States 
Senate, and he not a citizen of the State ! All who opposed such 
an act of usurpation on the part of the Federal Government to- 
wards this State, were denounced by the authorities at Washing- 
ton. We were all proscribed, calumniated and maligned without 
measure, by numerous gangs of new-comers in the employ of the 
General Government. We were told by them that the President 
would allow no man to hold office under him, who did not endorse 
Mr. King's pretensions to a seat in the United States Senate, and 
who would not humbly bow the knee, and acknowledge the Pres- 
ident's right to dictate to the people of California, whom they 



19 

should elect to represent them in the Senate of the United States. 
There was one man, then the editor of the California Courier, the 
accredited organ of the Administration, (the writer of this work,) 
who treated such language with the contempt it deserved, and 
who defied the power of the Administration, and hissed and 
scorned, all threats and overtures. He told these Government 
Officials, that he asked them no favors ; that if he could not get 
the printing of the General Government, without yielding up his 
rights as a citizen, and his sense of duty and justice to the State 
of his adoption, he would suffer his arm to wither to its shoulder, 
and his tongue to blister in his throat, before he would comply 
with their demands. I never did yield an inch to the Authorities 
at Washington, or to the emmissaries they had sent out here. 
After they had failed in forcing Mr. King upon the people of Cali- 
fornia — after the Legislature of California had refused, on one 
hundred and forty-two ballots, to elect Mr. King to the United 
States Senate, his friends met at midnight in the Capitol, at San 
Jose, and there passed resolutions, reading me out of the Whig 
party. 

Strange to say, a majority of these very members owed their 
election to the Legislature to my labors, and to my pecuniary 
sacrifices in that campaign. In the resolutions they passed, 
they charged me with Mr. King's defeat, and sundry other 
very grave offences. A committee was appointed to have these 
resolutions endorsed by the Whig General Committee, of the city 
and county of San Francisco. This Legislative Committee, came 
quiety to San Francisco and deliberated for two or three nights 
in secret conclave with the General Committee, over these res- 
olutions. ]Mr. King, it was said, was present each night, but 
I was not permitted to know of this conspiracy against me, or to 
be there to defend myself against my accusers. . Although a ma- 
jority of the members of the Committee were composed of Mr. 
King's friends, yet the resolutions were, by a majority of one, final- 
ly laid upon the table, from which they were never resurrected. 
The Legislative Committee soon after, left the city. Their reso- 
lutions however, were sent on to Washington, to be a standing 
condemnation against me. All those who participated in that 
infernal attempt, to break me down with my party, and the Fed- 
eral Administration and the people of California, have my per- 
mission to glory over that act of petty tyranny. Where are all 



20' 

these men now, and where am I ? The majority of them, have 
either left the State, or have sunk to a profound obscurity. I 
would not exchange conditions with them, for all the gold in Cal- 
ifornia. Never was such a compliment paid to so humble a citi- 
zen before, as was paid me by Mr. King, and his friends, on that 
occasion. I had the credit of defeating the Federal Administra- 
tion in this State, with all its vast patronage and power. A 
small young David, slaying another great Goliah. Well, if I did 
do it, thank Heaven, I am proud of it, and I would like to have 
it inscribed upon my tombstone, that I did, single handed, resist 
and defeat the attempt of the Authorities at Washington, to 
trample on the rights of the people of California, and the Sover- 
ignty of this State. I hope no one will ever be permitted to 
make way with these resolutions, filed away among the archives 
at Washington. The best of all these strange proceedings, is the 
fact that the parties engaged in that affair, cannot deny the 
charge I make against them, for their signatures are all signed to 
that celebrated document. 

But with all Mr. King's faults, he should not be held responsi- 
ble for all the offences with which he is charged. The adminis- 
tration under which he served, drove him to extremes. It not 
only sustained him in his attempt to force himself upon the peo- 
ple of this State, but it gave him all the encouragement it pos- 
sibly could, without coming to an open rupture with the State of 
California. As we have said before, all those Whigs who were 
opposed to Mr. King's pretentions to a seat in the United States 
Senate, from California, were proscribed by the Administration. 
Piles on piles of documents were sent on to Washington, by 
Federal aj)pointees, shipped here from the Atlantic States, against 
some of the best citizens of California, who unfortunately declared 
that Mr. King, while holding the most lucrative office under the 
Federal Government, ought not to attempt to claim also the 
highest office within the gift of this State. It is well known that 
he left the Custom House, for weeks at a time, to canvass, and 
electioneer with the members of the Legislature, to be elected to 
the United States Senate. Mr. Fillmore's conduct in the whole 
of this contest was "both ridiculous and contemptible." These 
are the very words of Daniel Webster, as he applied them to Mr. 
Fillmore, when speaking of his conduct towards the people of 
California. He told Mr. Fillmore, that the men he had picked 



21 

up from Wasliingtion, and shipped out to the Pacific, at public 
expense, were interested in misrepresenting the independent 
citizens of this country — that California was peopled by a bold 
and enterprising population — that he himself knew of some of the 
most enlightened merchants, and best citizens in California, who 
would take no public office whatever, and who reprobated the 
domineering, and insulting conduct of Federal Officials towards 
all those who would not bow the knee to Federal usurpation in 
California. 

During the whole time that Mr. King was Collector of this 
Port, he was annoyed, and harrassed almost to death by Corwin, 
and others, sending out here men from the Atlantic States, to be 
appointed by him to office. Not a steamer arrived from Panama 
that did not bring some one to California with a request to Mr. 
King to appoint a beneficiary of the General Government, to 
office from the Atlantic States. He could hardly keep a Califor- 
nian in office much over one month before he had to turn him out 
to make room for some Government Official, shipped out here at 
Government expense. Mr. Corwin, always had a deep seated 
dislike to the people of this country, and especially the pioneers. 
He has told me and others, that he looked upon the majority of 
our people as dishonest. He was the man who desired that our 
army in Mexico might be welcomed there with " bloody hands, 
and inhospitable graves." No wonder then that he took every 
means to insult those who had conquered California from Mexico. 

What is most strange, is the singular fact that some of these 
very men from "Washington, who Mr. King had thus fed and 
clothed by his bounty, deserted and turned upon him. But the 
worst of all, was the fact that the ingrate Corwin deserted him 
also, wlien he found Mr. King could not be elected United States 
Senator. Not only this, but he made him out a defaulter, and left 
him to his enemies to settle his accounts. Had he succeeded in 
being elected to the United States Senate, he never would 
have been charged with defalcation. That Mr. King used 
the public money I as verily believe as I exist, but I do not be- 
lieve that he ever used one dollar that the Administration did 
not either wink at or permit. He never should have been charged 
with being a defaulter, and the Secretary should have given him a 
clear reciept. Mr, King left here poor, and if he spent the 
Government's money, he did so to enable the Administr9.tiou to 



22 

rule the people, and the State of California. Perhaps no public 
officer was ever more shamefully treated, than was Mr. King by 
Mr. Corwin. 

There was one fault which Mr. King had, which no man ought 
to excuse him for, — he was eternally recommending California to 
the Federal Government and the people of the Atlantic States, 
in a false light. In his Report on California, he recommended 
the Federal Government to use no other steamers in the Pacific 
Ocean but propellers. He also, in that Report, urged Congress to 
tax the miners so much per head for the construction of roads in 
California. Now every person on this coast knows that most all 
steam propellers employed out here have been long since lost or 
abandoned with the exception of one. As to taxing the miners ex- 
clusively for the purpose of raising a fund for the construction of 
roads, the proposition is simply ridiculous. Had the Federal Gov- 
ernment attempted to carry into effect thia recommendation, it 
would have failed, for the people of all classes would have resisted 
it by force of arms. It is strange that Mr. King should have made 
himself so ridiculous. The miners of California have already 
voluntarily built a large number of roads in the state at their 
own expense, at a cost perhaps of two millions of dollars, and the 
Federal Government are now enjoying the profit of their im- 
provements free of charge. But had it undertaken to tax the 
miners as a class, it would never have raised one dollar from 
them. 

The arrogance shown by Mr. King in speaking of California 
is surprising. He must be inexcusably ignorant of this country 
or he is seeking to injure us with the people on the other side of 
the continent. He has net long since made them a speech in 
which he undertakes to speak ex calthedra of this country. In 
that speech he states that California can never be an agricultural 
country. What nonsense is this ? Why does he make himself 
such a fool ? Why, we not only produce from the soil more than 
we can consume, but we are now shipping flour and wheat to the 
Atlantic States, Chili, Australia, China and Spanish America, and 
potatoes and other vegetables to all parts of the Pacific. The 
farmers of California can produce more serial grain and vegeta- 
bles of all kinds to the acre, than any other people on the globe. 
Let Mr. King and all other croakers " dry up" about California. 
The pe9ple of this State, by their own unaided eflorts, without 



23 

any State Legislation, have by their own voluntary labor con- 
structed roads, tunnels, canals, bridges, ditches and other im- 
provements within the last five years, at an aggregate cost of 
something like $30,000,000. What other people in any state of 
the Union could or would have made such outlays without legis- 
lative log-rolling and enactments — without the aid of foreign 
capital, accomplished so much? We are, on this coast, progres- 
sive, and are not the men to wait for the slow motions of legisla- 
tors or old fogies. Indeed we are at least one hundred years in 
advance of those who live in the Atlantic States. 



CHAPTER lY. 



In his first annual message to Congress, Mr. Fillmore, follow- 
ing in the footsteps of Senators Gwin and Fremont, from this 
State, urged upon both houses the necessity of having all the min- 
eralla nds of California leased out ; to take them out of the hands 
of the miners and turn them over to those who could afi'ord to 
lease them from the General Government. Messrs. Gwin and 
Fremont soon discovered their error and abandoned the attempt 
to lease out these mineral lands. When the news of this project- 
ed measure of Mr. Fillmore's came to California, it raised a storm 
of indignation all over the State. The intelligence of our peo- 
ples' deep resentment at this attrocious proposition, fortunately, 
it is said, reached Washington just in time to prevent Congress 
from consummating this oppressive and tyranical act upon the 
State. Had that body authorized the President to lease out these 
mineral lands, the people here would have, after the manner of 
Judge Lynch, hung every officer who would have attempted to 
carry out the law. The Federal Government soon found it both 
necessary and convenient to retreat from its position. 

That session of Congress, however, succeeded in establishing 
in our State a new kind of Court, unknown to our country and its 
institutions, which was denominated a Board of Land Commis- 
sioners for the settlement of private land claims in California. 
In former years, it is well known Land Commissions were 
established in Louisiana, Florida and Missouri, but they bore 



24 

no resemblance to the one established in California; — yet, 
even they were considered, and proved to be, instruments of 
fraud and oppression, and they were broken up. Manufacturers 
of, and speculators in fraudulent Mexican land grants, it is well 
known, with such a Court as the one established here, could soon 
acquire vast fortunes — could rob under the color of law, the hon- 
est holders and occupants of the lands of the State. After fail- 
ing to deprive the miners of their mining claims, the General 
Government appears to have determined, if possible, to deprive 
our people of all their agricultural lands. Soon after the estab- 
lishment of this Board of Land Commissioners, it is a well known 
fact, that Land Grants were manufactured by wholesale, and 
sold in the streets of San Francisco, and men were employed to 
swear them through the Courts, as having been lawfully issued by 
the Government of Mexico. How was it possible for the Judges 
or Commissioners of this Court, however learned, discerning and 
upright, to discover these frauds or disprove the validity of these 
grants. 

It would have been far better had Congress confirmed to all the 
occupants of the lands, their titles at once, whether all of their 
claims to them were valid or not, than to have done what it has 
done. Even with the present Board of Commissioners, had the 
General Government made their decisions, in all cases, final 
against the United States, we might by this time have had nearly 
all of our titles to the lands of the State permanently settled. 
But this it refused to do. The decisions . of the Board of Com- 
missioners now avail us nothing. After they have passed upon a 
claim, the General Government has the right to carry it up to the 
United States District Courts of California, and from the District 
Courts to the Supreme Court of the United States. In this way, 
it is well known, that final decisions upon all of these grants can- 
not be had under a century. In the mean time, the holders of 
them will be broken up by expenses, and unprincipled lawyers and 
speculators will be very certain in a few years to seize and pos- 
sess themselves of the whole of their lands. Many of the native 
Californians and old Pioneers have already lost every league of 
land they possessed. 

There is no instance in the history of the United States where 
the Federal Government has acquired territory from a foreign 
State against the inhabitants of whom Congress has passed such 



25 

inquisitorial and oppressive laws, having reference to land hold- 
ers, as it has against those of our State. The holders and occu- 
piers of lauds in the Louisiana and Florida purchase, were never 
required to come into Court and prove their titles. The titles to 
their lands were never disturbed or outlawed by the General 
Government. Here, they have been both disturbed and outlawed 
by act of Congress, and this was done too, in direct violation- of 
the Treaty of Hidalgo Guadaloupe, Indeed the General Gov- 
ernment has pursued the early settlers and native Californians as 
if it desired to strip them of every thing they possessed, and turn 
them and their families out upon the world without a penny in 
their pockets. It has virtually, by act of Congress, confiscated 
the entire landed property of the natives and old pioneers of the 
State. The passage of this law was an act of barbarity, and it is 
a disgrace to our statute books. The President and Congress 
could not have been ignorant of the fact that this law most shame- 
fully violated the plighted faith of this nation in its treaty with 
Mexico. 

By the eighth and ninth articles of the Treaty of Hidalgo 
Guadaloupe, the Government of the United States was most sol- 
emnly pledged inviolably to respect and protect the property, rights, 
libertiy, and the religious worship of the native Californians from 
moleslation, whether they were, at the time of the ratification of 
the Treaty, or not, residing within the State of California, as 
fully as those of any citizen of the United States. Almost the 
same words are used in our Treaties with France and Spain for 
the purchase of Louisiana and Florida. But Congress, in these 
last two mentioned Treaties, respected the plighted faith of the 
General Government. In our Treaty with Spain for the purchase 
of Florida, it was expressly provided that all grants of land 
made subsequent to the 24th of January, 1818, were declared 
null and void ; but all grants made prior to that date, the Gov- 
ernment of the United States was required, under the Treaty, to 
confirm to the holders of them. It is to be regretted that a sim. 
ilar provision was not inserted in the Treaty of Hidalgo Gua- 
loupe. 

Those who had possession of lands in the Territories of the 
Louisiana and Florida purchase for the period of ten years prior 
to their acquisition by the United States, whether they held grants 
for lands or not, were allowed by Congress, 640 acres of land. 

9* ^ a , 



26 

Indeed if they were in possession of lands at any period of time 
previous to tlie purchase of these Territories from France and 
Spain, they were allowed by Congress a certain quantity of land. 
No resident of these countries at the time of their acquisition by 
the United States was denied lands by Congress'. How different 
from this has been the course of the General Government toward 
the natives ^nd pioneers of California. In this State, the author- 
ities at Washington are unwilling to let a single individual have 
even a foot of land. They will neither respect possession of land 
for any number of years, long residence in the country, or even un- 
questionable titles to lands for sixty or seventy years standing. 
All persons must be excluded from owning and holding one foot 
of land to support themselves and families. Not even the very 
grave yards " where sleep the sleep that knows no waking" of all 
that was mortal of their ancestors, their friends and kindred dear, 
must be allowed them. Indeed the General Government has acted 
towards us like a desperate bully. It appears unwilling to let us 
have the very means by which we are to support life. Such conduct 
has no parallel for cruelty in any civilized State of this age. Un- 
fortunately, California has always been regarded by the "Powers 
That Be," as a country for Federal plunder. Let the authorities 
at Washington be careful how they push measures to extremes. 
They may go too far. 

The member of Congress who drew up the Act providing for 
the establishment of a " Board of Land Commissioners, to ascer- 
tain and settle private land claims in California," must have been 
a Jesuit. It is the most cunningly devised act I ever read. The 
General Government professes all the way through this act, to be 
very scrupulous about adhering to the provisions of the Treaty of 
Hidalgo Guadaloupe ; and yet it compels the Law Agent to 
adopt the very means necessary to defeat these provisions. It 
makes this officer look upon every property holder who presents 
his grant for confirmation, as a rascal, and his grant of land, as 
a fraudulent one. The property holder is to be pursued as if he 
were a forger or a robber, whom the General Government is pro- 
secuting for committing a felony. This is the plain English of it. 
Not content with harrassing him in one Court, it fights him 
through three successive ones. It would be more honorable for 
the Federal Government to take from him by force, his lands at 
once, than to break him up with expenses. It is impossible for 



2r 

him in the eud, to survive this long and wearisome prosecu- 
tion. 

It strikes me that an appeal ought to be made at once to the 
present Congress to confirm absolutely, without any farther de- 
lay, litigation and expense, all the land grants decided by the 
late Board of Land Commissioners, with the exception of the 
Limantour and some other bogus grants within the limits of the 
city of San Francisco. In other words. Congress should give to 
the grant-holders a quit-claim of the United States to all their 
lauds. The same course was adopted, and even provided for, in 
the Board of Land Commissioners established in the Florida and 
Louisiana purchases. Those Boards were only instituted to col- 
lect information for Congress, and that body always confirmed 
their decision. This Board, however, bore no resemblance to our 
late Board of Land Commissioners. At the same time, should 
Congress confirm all the decisions made by the Board of Land 
Commissioners in this State, it should likewise provide that the 
settlers now on these grants shall be indemnified by the owners 
of the property for the improvements they have made. This 
compromise will be better for all parties. Neither the settlers or 
the property-holders will now make any permanent improvements 
until the titles to these lands have been legally and satisfactorily 
determined. 

Under the present state of things, the settlers, as well as the 
grant-holders in this State, are now virtually without homes and 
without lauds of their own. The Federal Government is con- 
testing, inch by inch, through three successive Courts, every man's 
claim to a foot of land in California. It is the interest, there- 
fore, of every citizen in this State to arrest this unnatural condi- 
tion of affairs. If we adhere to the present system of adjusting 
laud titles, all the inhabitants now residing within the State must 
die off without being able to leave one acre of land to their chil- 
dren. What country can enjoy prosperity where the people are 
without homes and without lands. No one now can say that he 
owns, in fee simple, a particle of land, for it is all claimed, and 
all in dispute. The lawyers and speculators are now reaping 
large revenues from this state of things ; and if we continue this 
conflict about land titles five years longer, every farmer in the 
State will be broken up, and the State itself prostrated. Let 
those who are interested in lands, carefully consider this subject. 



28 

It is idle, however, to attempt any remedy of existing evils, in 
this particular, by State Legislative enactments. Such legislation 
can only complicate the difficulties which now surround both the 
settlers and the grant-holders. State legislation will only impose 
additional burthens on the settlers and grant-owners, and compel 
them to pay more money into the hands of the lawyers, without 
accomplishing any good. Every sensible and honest man knows 
well that the State of California has no jurisdiction and no con- 
trol of these land grants. Why then should the Legislature thus 
trifle with a people who are now almost prostrated by existing 
difficulties ? We have it from the mouths of several old Pio- 
neers, that had they have known how brutal and ferocious the 
Government would have prosecuted them in this country, they 
would have left here long since. Major Reading and Capt. Sut- 
ter have no hesitancy in saying that they would have left here, 
and all the old Californians with them, had they known they were 
to be treated as they have been by the Government of the United 
States. 



CHAPTER Y. 



During this same session of Congress of '50-'51, that body 
passed a law authorizing the establishment of an Assay Office in 
this State. The then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Corwin, 
who had the sole right under the law to see its provisions carried 
into effect, made a private contract with Curtis, Perry and Ward 
to commence the assaying of gold in California. No attempt 
was made to establish an Assay Office as provided for by law, but 
the Secretary erected here a private Government shaving shop in 
the place of it. Although this monstrous outrage and fraud was 
repeatedly exposed to the public, and the guilty parties held up 
to the popular scorn of the country, yet the wily Secretary and 
his tools, Curtis and Mudd, succeeded in fastening on our people 
this odious and iniquitous establishment for nearly three years ; 
and yet strange to say, the very coin manufactured by this United 
States Assay Office was repudiated by the General Government. 



The Post Ofl&ce and Custom House of San Francisco absolutely 
refused to receiv.e it in payment for dues to the Government, and 
it was not until a meeting of the merchants and citizens of San 
Francisco had been held, and had openly resolved and pro- 
claimed not to pay the Federal Government one dollar of rev- 
enue unless it honored its own coin, that it consented to receive 
it. What a spectacle was this ! Here was the Federal Govern- 
ment, through the Secretary of the Treasury, debasing and de- 
preciating its own currency. It soon found, however, that Cali- 
fornians, when aroused, know their rights and are prepared to 
maintain them. Uncle Sam had to " knuckle under," because he 
knew that Californians do not say they will do a thing without 
doing it. Under the operations of this private Assay Ofl&ce of 
Corwin, Mudd, Curtis, Perry, Ward & Co., the hardy and indus- 
trious miners of California were shaved and swindled out of 
nearly two millions of dollars. Of course all the parties to this 
mammoth fraud became rich, and none more so than Mr. Corwin, 
for they had the exclusive right to assay gold and place the Gov- 
ernment stamp upon it. All other persons were prohibited from 
exercising this privilege, under many pains and penalties. Well 
might Tom Corwin, although as Secretary of the Treasury he was 
entitled by law to only $6,000 per annum, retire from office in 
two years with a fortune of half a million of dollars, so long as 
he had such a field for plunder as California afforded him. 

Mr. Fillmore, after Congress had failed to pass a law authoriz- 
ing the lease of the mineral lands of California, determined to 
try another mode to get possession of the mineral lands of this 
State, for the exclusive use and benefit of the General Govern- 
ment. In his next message to Congress he recommended to that 
body the propriety of passing a law authorizing the President to 
sell these mineral lands to the highest bidder, and he was ably 
seconded by prominent persons belonging to all parties in both 
houses of Congress. . Mr. Fillmore, as the head of the Govern- 
ment, was perhaps, after all, but the organ of public opinion on 
the other side of the continent. Indeed, all parties were to 
blame in this shameful attempt to dispossess the people of Cali- 
fornia of their mineral lands. No member, therefore, of any one 
party, can with justice say to another, " You did it." For nearly 
three years the capitalists of Europe and the Atlantic States 
maintained a most desperate struggle to induce the Federal Gov- 



30 

ernment to either lease or sell the mineral lands of this State ; 
and we regret to say that Mr. Fillmore and other prominent poli- 
ticians in Washington gave them all the " aid and comfort " they 
could. When the people of California, however, heard of this 
second attempt to dispossess them of their mineral lands, they 
gave the General Government to understand that to accomplish 
its purpose its minions would have to wade through seas of 
blood — that the mines were the common property of the people 
of the United States, and that they should be held by the Gen- 
eral Government as a trust for that purpose. This was the last 
attempt on the part of the General Government to deprive us of 
our mineral lands, and it will never have the audacity to attempt 
it again. 

It is impossible to estimate the injury that the General Gov- 
ernment would have inflicted upon this country, had it succeeded 
in placing the whole mineral wealth and treasure of this young 
State in the hands of a few monopolists, either by the sale or the 
lease of the mineral lands. Now these mines are a princely rev- 
enue, not only to our people, but to the people and the Govern- 
ment of the United States. They have been supporting the 
trembling credit of the whole Union for the last five years. Had 
it not been for the vast annual product of our mines, the banks 
of the Atlantic States would have all had to suspend three years 
ago, and the most of the merchants in that quarter would have 
been bankrupted. We have not only upheld and protected the 
financial credit and honor of the country, at home and abroad, 
but we have increased its commerce and enlarged its products, 
resources, revenues and area, and for doing all this, how have we 
been recompensed? — how treated by those whom we have so 
benefitted ? 

We admit that Congress has appropriated some few millions of 
dollars to erect fortifications, dock-yards, public buildings and 
light-houses on the Pacific coast, yet all this money has been spent 
for the especial benefit of the General Government, and not for 
our people. But even grant that it was spent for the benefit of 
the people of California and the adjacent Territories, is it not a 
well known and admitted fact, in the financial and commercial 
world, that the semi-monthly shipments of gold from California 
prevented the suspension of all the banks, and the prostration of 
nearly all the importing merchants of the Atlantic States ? Had 



31 

they gone by the board, what would have been the financial con- 
dition of the treasury of the United States ? President Pierce 
would have had to call an extra session of Congress, as Mr. Van 
Buren did in 1837, and Congress would no doubt have had to 
authorize the issue of another batch of Treasury Notes, to enable 
him to carry on the Government. California, Oregon and "Wash- 
ington, therefore owe Uncle Sam nothing for what he has done 
for them. 

The session of Congress in 1852 passed a law providing for 
the establishment of certain Districts, in which should reside 
Local Inspectors and Supervising Inspectors of all steamboats 
navigating the waters of the United States. California was en- 
tirely left out as a District in this bill. So were the adjacent 
Territories of Oregon and Washington. San Francisco was al- 
lowed, however, a Local Inspector of steamboats, but it was ex- 
pressly provided in the act that none of his decisions should be 
valid or binding until theywere ratified by the Supervising In- 
spector of the District of New Orleans. Here we go again back 
to the Crescent City, — back to the alligator holes of Louisiana. 
The General Government appears, by many of its acts, to have 
regarded San Francisco as but a mere District of New Orleans, 
and California herself a mere Territory belonging to the State of 
Louisiana. 

If our Inspector here condemned a steamer as unscaworthy, 
and refused to give a certificate to the owner or owners of said 
steamer, to the effect that her boiler or boilers were substantial, 
well made, and in good condition, the owner could snap his finger 
at the Inspector and say, " I am perfectly indiiferent, sir, whether 
you give me a certificate or not, I shall run my boat, and you 
cannot prevent me." The Local Inspector here could not expect 
the Supervising Inspector of New Orleans to certify to his acts, 
without knowing something of the steamers in our waters. There 
is no means now of compelling steamboat owners here to provide 
their boats with such boilers as will bear inspection. During the 
last session of Congress a bill was introduced into the Senate, 
and there passed, to erect California, Oregon and Washington 
into an independent steamboat District, but the House of Repre- 
sentatives laid it on the table, from which it will be hard to re- 
surrect. Just now, and indeed it has always been the case, the 
whole Pacific coast is excluded from the benefits of this steam- 



32 

boat inspection law of the United States. It is a great mercy 
that we have not suffered more than we have from steamboat 
explosions in our waters. 

In the session of 1851-1852, Congress passed an act providing 
for the establishment of a Branch Mint in Califojnia ; and in the 
General Appropriation Bill of the session of 1852-'53, Congress 
appropriated the sum of $300,000 for the erection of a building 
and for putting in operation a Mint in California. In section 6th, 
the Act says, This sum " shall he appropriated only to the erection 
and putting in operation a Mint in California^ and not for the pur- 
chase of any building for that purpose J^ Now, while it was a well 
known fact, the Act provided that this appropropriation should 
not be used for the purchase of a building, but exclusively for the 
erection of one for the purpose of establishing a Branch Mint in 
California, yet the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Corwin, and 
his successor, Mr. Guthrie, openly set this law at defiance. Mr. 
Corwin first opened negotiations with Curtis, Ward & Perry for 
the purchase of their Assay Office building, in Commercial street, 
San Francisco. The terms were agreed upon, and when Mr. 
Guthrie superseded Mr. Corwin, he concluded the contract as 
agreed upon and signed the papers. Why did Mr. Guthrie per- 
petrate this act of fraud upon the Government ? He certainly 
must have known that the purchase of this building was a direct 
violation of the Act of Congress making the appropriation for 
the establishment of the Branch Mint in California. It is evi- 
dent, therefore, that Mr. Corwin and Mr. Guthrie violated their 
official oaths, when they took the responsibility of setting at 
naught this law of the United States and the object of our Sena- 
tors and Representatives in having it passed. They must have 
perpetrated this fraud to enable their friends, Curtis and Mudd, 
to profit by it. Their conduct, in this particular, shows that they 
cared nothing about the wants and wishes of the people of this 
country, and we regret to say that they were sustained in this 
gross fraud upon the Federal Government and the State of Cali- 
fornia by President Pierce himself. The present building, every 
one here knows, is altogether too contracted and unsuited for the 
purposes for which it is used ; besides, its location is a very im- 
proper one. It is evident, therefore, that the General Govern- 
ment, in a few years, will have to remove the Mint to some more 
spacious building to enable it to meet the growing wants of the 
Pacific. 



The present establishment never could have cost anything like 
$300,000. The whole building and machinery, as well as the 
property on which they are located, would not sell for $100,000. 
Indeed, I am informed by Judge Lott, the present gentlemanly 
and intelligent Superintendent of the Mint, that the whole pro- 
perty, if sold to-morrow, would not bring over $75,000 ; and yet, 
strange as this fact will appear, the expense of putting in opera- 
tion this Mint, with all the property belonging to it, cost the 
Government $50,000, over and above the appropriation just re- 
ferred to, making the cost of the whole property $350,000, and 
yet, if it was sold to-morrow it would not bring $75,000. Now, 
is California to be charged on the Treasury books of the United 
States, with the loss of all this large appropriation ? I am in- 
formed also by Judge Lott that the deed of purchase cannot be 
found, — that it is not on record, and never has been on record, 
although he is certain one was made to the General Government. 
Where is this deed? "Who has possession of it, and why is it not 
recorded ? Now we are not disposed to charge corruption on 
the part of the parties, who had the management of this whole 
affair, but we submit to every candid and intelligent man whether 
the facts above stated, do not carry conviction to all impartial 
men that the grossest frauds were perpetrated by some person or 
persons, having authority to purchase this building and put in 
operation a Branch Mint in this State. 

The $300,000 appropriated by Congress would have purchased 
a suitable piece of property, in some eligible part of the city of 
San Francisco, on which could have been erected a building as 
large again as the present one, — one, too, that would have been 
an ornament to the State, and a credit to the General Govern- 
ment, — besides purchasing all the necessary machinery for assay- 
ing and coining gold and silver. But Secretaries Corwin and 
Guthrie knew that the seat of the Parent Government was some 
6,000 miles distant from California, and that as they had tlie sole 
authority to disburse this money, they could make the contract 
and spend the appropriation before we in California could take 
measures to prevent them misapplying it. 

In concluding this review of President Fillmore's administra- 
tion, we desire to ask. Where now are those Atlantic officials 
who were shipped out here at public expense, by Mr. Fillmore's 
administration, to displace the old Californians ? Where are 
3 



34 

those imscrnpulous Atlantic tools who figured so largely under 
Mr. Corwin as his financial agents in this country ? Yes, we say, 
where arc the men who did his bidding here? — who sung hosan- 
nas in his praise, and who sent on to Washington so many de- 
famatory and insulting letters against the Pioneers of California ? 
They formerly lived with us, and were loud in their devotion to 
this young State. They must have accumulated large pickings 
in this country. It appears noAv that they can and do reside 
abroad. Here they professed that they had pitched their tent 
forever ; but no sooner had Corwin to leave his post in the Cabi- 
net, than they all again took up their residence in the Atlantic 
States. Heaven knows that our people are certainly not in favor 
of their return to California, and we do most solemnly protest 
against the President and his Cabinet, as well as the Members of 
Congress, consulting these men about the affairs of California, 
the wants of our people, or the passage of such measures by Con- 
gress as may be both necessary and proper to promote the welfare 
and prosperity of the Pacific coast. 



CHAPTER YI. 

We now come to the consideration of President Pierce's ad- 
ministration, so far as it refers to the Pacific coast. 

By an Act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1854, $120,000 was 
appropriated for the establishment of a line of Mail Steamers 
between San Francisco and Puget Sound, in Washington Terri- 
tory, by the way of Humboldt, Crescent City, Port Orford, and 
other intermediate ports. This contract was given by the pres- 
ent Post Master General to J. H. Clay Mudd, the very same in- 
dividual who figured so extensively in California under the Ad- 
ministration of President Fillmore. As Mudd had neither the 
money or the steamers to carry into effect this contract, he com- 
menced speculating upon it. He tried to get Ex-Mayor Garrison 
to put on a line of steamers between San Francisco and Puget 
Sound, and offered to allow him $60,000 per annum for carrying 
the mail to and from these points. Of course Capt. Garrison con- 
sidered the proposition an insult, and treated it with contempt. 



m 

Mr. Mudd was to have $60,000 for doing nothing, while Capt. 
Garrison was to put on the steamers and carry the mail, and then 
get no more than this pet of the General Government. "We have 
heard of his offering it to Capt. Wright, and others. 

Little over six months ago, he had this contract hawking about 
in the streets of New York city. He made his boasts then that 
he had been offered sixty thousand dollars for it in San Francisco. 
What impudence is this ! And yet, while he was in New York, 
or about that time, boasting that he had been offered ^60,000 on 
this mail contract, he writes a letter to the Editor of one of the 
papers published at Puget Sound that he was unable to comply 
with this contract, as he had neither the steamers or the money 
to carry it into effect. He therefore informed the people of that 
Territory that they need never expect to derive any benefits from 
this contract. Of course they need never expect to see him carry 
out the contract, for it was given to him by the Post Master Gen- 
eral expressly to prevent the line from ever being established. 
It was well known from the first, by both contracting parties, that 
it was to be of no effect whatever. 

Here is another Act of Congress, passed for the benefit of this 
country, deliberately annulled, defied and made of no effect by 
the General Government, through the Post Master General. 
What does this administration mean by setting at defiance laws 
passed for the use and benefit of our portion of the Union ? Of 
course this appropriation by Congress, so long as the contract 
remains in the hands of Mr. Mudd, is of no avail to the people of 
California, Oregon and Washington. There is now but one Post 
Office in the whole region of Puget Sound — a region embracing 
nearly three hundred miles in extent — and there is no regular 
mail carried to and from there. Although there is a large trade 
and commerce carried on in that part of the Territory, still the 
people there can get neither letters or papers, but such as they 
may receive through transient steamers and vessels. It ia thus 
that the people on the Pacific coast are treated by the General 
Government and runaways from this country. If the General 
Government is determined to give to Mr. Mudd the entire con- 
trol and management of our interests, let it establish forthwith 
another Bureau Department especially for the Pacific Coast, and 
place him at the head of it. He is a fast man and a big opera- 



86 

tor, and he can then go it for Uncle Sam and for us, "with a per- 
fect looseness. 

One of the most recent and glaring acts of injustice inflicted 
on this young Commonwealth, was an Act passed at the last ses- 
sion of Congress, providing for the establishment of a United 
States Circuit Court in California. This Court, instead of being 
placed on an equality with all the other Circuit Courts of the 
United States, was made, by .the Act which created it, a mere 
local Court. The Judge of the California Circuit Court is not 
made an Associate Justice of the United States, like all other 
United States Circuit Judges, but a mere local Judge. By this 
act of discrimination against us on the part of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, our State is denied a representative on the Bench of 
the Supreme Court at "Washington. California, therefore, is the 
only State in this Union that has not a Judicial representative in 
that Court. Why should she be thus cut off from all the direct 
benefits of the highest Judicial tribunal in the United States ? 
The novelty of principles, the number of cases, and the amount 
of property involved in Judge McAlister's Circuit Court, exceeds 
that of any Judicial Circuit in the United States, and yet his 
Circuit Court has been made a mere local one. Why should not 
the United States Circuit Court of California be placed on the 
broad basis of National equality with all the other Circuit Courts 
of the United States ? Now we have no one on the Supreme 
Court Bench who can and will give his immediate attention to 
the California cases before that Court. Our land cases alone in- 
volve a greater amount of property, perhaps, at this time, than 
all the other cases on trial before that Court, and yet our United 
States Circuit Judge, Mr. McAlister, is denied a seat upon that 
Bench. 

While on this subject, we desire to say a few words more in 
relation to the effect and Judicial operations of the Act of Con- 
gress of the 3rd of March, 1852, entitled, " An Act to ascertain 
and settle private land claims in California." By the provisions 
of that bill it will be recollected, that after the termination of 
the Board of Commissioners, an appeal at the instance of the de- 
feated party, lies to the United States District Courts of Califor- 
nia, and from these latter Courts an appeal is provided for to the 
Supreme Court of the United States. The Board of Land Com- 
missioners have decided all the claims before them, and adjourned 



sine die. "We may all tliank heaven for that. But out of all the 
cases appealed to the United States District Courts, there have 
been decided only about one hundred and fifty, leaving still un- 
decided at least six hundred and fifty. Out of these one hundred 
and fifty cases decided by the United States District Courts, there 
have only been confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United 
States between five and six. This leaves still nearly eight hun- 
dred California cases yet to be adjudicated by that high tribunal. 
Now, we should like to know when these remaining eight hun- 
dred cases will be decided by the Supreme Court of the United 
States ? Even of the very few cases which have been confirmed 
by the Supreme Court, only two of them are of any avail to the 
parties holding the property. The General Government, in the 
other titles confirmed by the Supreme Court, has refused to de- 
liver to the parties patents for their lands. For this reason, the 
titles to their property are now just as much clouded as they were 
when they were first brought before the Board of Land Commis- 
sioners. 

Owing to the mistaken economy of the General Government, 
in not providing its officers in California with money to pay for 
carrying up the land cases already decided by the United States 
District Courts of this State, to the Supreme Court at Washing- 
ton, all the California land cases, with the exception of five or 
six, are suspended, awaiting the tardy action of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. A general order has been issued by the Attorney General 
of the United States, to the United States District Attorneys in Cali- 
fornia, to appeal all land cases decided against the Government, 
to the Supreme Court. Yet, in the face of this state of things, 
the Government at Washington has neglected to provide its local 
officers here with money to carry into effect this order. These 
delays of the Government must of necessity operate oppressively 
to the landholders and settlers, and likewise injuriously to the 
welfare and prosperity of the State. As matters now stand, the 
prospects of a final settlement of our land titles appears to be 
very remote indeed. Several generations will have passed away 
before they can be finally adjudicated under the present system. 
We might have these evils abated to some extent, if our United 
States Circuit Judge, Mr. McAlister, was permitted, like all other 
United States Circuit Judges, to take his seat on the Bench of 
the Supreme Court. He could then and there bring to the atten- 



tion of that tribunal the necessity of early action on all the land 
titles of California. It is to be hoped that the present session of 
Congress will not adjourn before placing the United States Cir- 
cuit Court of this State on the same National equality with all 
the other Circuit Courts of the United States. 

"When Congress undertakes to legislate for the whole Union, it 
very frequently leaves California, Oregon and Washington out of 
the Act ; but when it undertakes to provide for the raising of 
revenue, California and the adjacent Territories are never for- 
gotten, and it invariably makes us pay twice as much as those 
who live on the Atlantic side, and often three times as much. 
Wliy will the General Government continue to omit providing 
for us on the Pacific coast, when legislating for the whole coun- 
try ? Our people are as true to the American Republic as those 
of any part of it. If the United States should become involved 
in war, we would defend her. If the foe should attempt to in- 
vade us, we would meet them on the beach with a sword in one 
hand and a torch in the other. We would dispute every inch of 
ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last entrenchment of 
liberty should be our graves, rather than permit a foreign enemy 
to contaminate the soil of our country. Then why should we be 
excepted to and discriminated against ? All we ask, and all we 
have ever claimed, is to be placed on an equality with all the 
States and Territories in this Union. As we are now situated, 
the Federal Government is our most bitter enemy. It has. 
wronged us long enough, and it is now about time that it should 
both understand and respect our appeals to justice and the princi- 
ples of the Federal Constitution. 

When the General Government is, however, disposed to do 
anything magnificent for the Pacific Coast, it sends a Consul to 
Acapulco or the Navigator Islands. The one now at the Navi- 
gator Islands, Mr. Van Camp, has fleeced the merchants of San 
Francisco out of some sixty-three thousand dollars, and before 
Judge Jenkins gets there to supersede him, he will have fleeced 
them out of twice that amount. He is a bold operator and a 
regular fast Califoruian, and as soon as he finds that he is super- 
seded, he will then go in for declaring the Islands an Independ- 
ent Republic, and of course decline to receive Judge Jenkins 
until the United States have consented to acknowledge the inde- 
pendence of his copper-colored Republic. This was his inten- 



ad 

tion, before he sailed from here. He left California a regular 
filibuster, and he has now perhaps got money, enough to carry out 
his purpose. 

Our present Consul in Acapulco, in Mexico, is on the poor list. 
He was a great friend of Gen. Alvarez, and was promised many 
leagues of laud for his assistance to that revolutionary leader. 
But his leagues of land have all been located among a band of 
warlike Indians, and they promise to hang him if he ever under- 
takes to come and get possession of them. President Pierce has 
evidently immortalized himself in these Consular appointments 
from California. All the other Diplomatic and Consular Agents 
in every port on the Pacific, have been taken from the back-woods 
of the Western and South-Western States, on the other side of 
the continent, with the exception of the Rev. Dr. Parker, our 
Commissioner to the Celestials, and he will not do anything for 
us on the Pacific coast, unless His Majesty, the Emperor of China, 
will acknowledge himself sound on the Westminster Confession 
of Faith. These Western and South-Western Consular Agents 
and Commissioners know nothing about commercial law or com- 
mercial afiairs. The only way we could expect them to serve us, 
if it was admissible, would be at a game of poker. If they could 
accomplish anything for us in that way, they would soon have in 
our possession nearly all the ports of the Pacific Ocean, for they 
would go, every time, fifty on the king, and a hundred on the ace. 



CHAPTER YII. 

The great continental Rail Road is yet to be provided for. I 
have no hopes that the Federal Government will ever build this 
road, nor do I wish it to do so. If it should undertake to con- 
struct such large works of internal improvement, it would soon 
become too powerful for the States. But it is amply provided 
with the means to secure its construction. It can appropriate 
public lands to Missouri and California, and such States as may 
be organized along the route, so as to enable these States to con- 
struct the road through their own limits. It can also grant the 
right of way through the intermediate Territories, and donate 



40 

land to any company that may undertake tlie work, and as a pro- 
tection to itself, it can provide that it shall have the right to 
transport the mails, troops, ordnance, &c., free of charge for a cer- 
tain number of years. This it can do, and this it should do with- 
out delay. The Federal Government has already extended such 
facilities to the Western and South Western States ; and it can, 
therefore, without any excuse, extend the same facilities to the 
States more immediately interested in the early construction of 
this continental highway. But President Pierce appears to be 
perfectly bewildered about what he should do in regard to this 
road. 

His first annual message to Congress on this subject was as 
clear as mud. He told Congress that the policy of the Federal 
Government was against internal improvements in the States — 
that Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and all the old apostles and 
founders of the Democratic party, had all declared that the Fed- 
eral Government had no power to enter upon a general system of 
internal improvements, but as they were old fogies, and all dead, 
he suggested that it might be well for Congress to reconsider the 
whole subject. As for himself, he did not wish to be committed 
on this question. The fact is. Pierce is not sound, and never has 
been sound on this Pacific Railroad. When he came, however, 
to the Territories, there he supposed the General Government 
had unquestionable power to construct a Railroad ; but before he 
got half way through this part of his message, he suggested that 
it might be well not to be in a hurry, as there might, after all, be 
some mistake about it. He considered that Congress had the 
clear constitutional right to claim all the atmosphere, and all the 
space above the soil, but if the road should touch the land at any 
point, he did not know but on that account, the whole improve- 
ment might be regarded by him as unconstitutional. Frank Pierce 
is, indeed, a strict constructionist. 

Now, it may be possible, that under President Pierce's views 
of the constitutional power of Congress to construct this Rail- 
road, it might be built on stilts. But even with this view of 
the case, there might arise another grave and serious difficulty ; 
as the stilts would have to be driven into the soil, he might con- 
sider that the driving of them into the earth would also render 
the construction of such a road unconstitutional. The best inter- 
pretation that I can give to this message on the Pacific Railroad, 



41 

is this : It is probable that what the President is really driving 
at, is the construction of a balloon line from ocean to ocean. If 
so, then let us have it as soon as possible, so that we can all go 
a-kiting across the continent, to " see the old folks at home." 

But after all, I do not see how these balloons are to be kept on 
a bee line between San Francisco and St, Louis, unless they are 
navigated by carrier pigeons — the most sensible winged naviga- 
tors I know of. Now, suppose these pigeons are required by an 
act of Congress to fly by night, and that they should, on some 
dark evening, be in the regions of the Rocky Mountains, or the 
Sierra Nevadas, and that they should, by accident, while ascend- 
ing either side of these lofty ranges of mountains, suffer their 
balloons to touch the earth, then it might so happen that President 
Pierce would declare even this line, for that reason, unconstitu- 
tional. The fact is, we have a high old President. On this Pa- 
cific Railroad, he has been playing on a harp of a thousand 
strings, to spirits of mankind, perfect and imperfect. An old 
farmer in his State, when he heard of his nomination for the office 
he now holds, said of him — that he would do very well for New 
Hampshire, but when they undertook to spread him all over the 
Union, he thought Frank Pierce would be found too small a man 
for that purpose. 

This message reminds us of William S. Archer's Report, made 
some years since to the United States Senate, on Foreign Rela- 
tions. When that Report reached Europe, they could not tell 
there, what we were all driving at in America. No one ever un- 
derstood it there, and no one ever understood it in this country. 
The New Orleans Picayune made several experiments upon it. 
The editor cut out one extract and read it from top to bottom, and 
then he turned it upside down and read it just the other way, and 
he came to the conclusion that it read as well and as sensible one 
way as the other. I have made the same experiment on Pierce's 
Railroad message, and I have come to the same conclusion in my 
investigation of this message, that the Editor of the New Orleans 
Picayune came to about Archer's Report. President Pierce's 
message on this Railroad, like Archer's Report on Foreign Re- 
lations, fell stillborn, as soon as it was made public. Now we 
propose to treat very respectfully, the Chief Magistrate of this 
Republic, but we tell him, and tell Congress, as well as our At- 
lantic brethren, that we do not wish any more nonsense and de- 



42 

lay over this road. They must let us have it, or we will make 
them hear from us. And they may find that when they do hear 
from us, they will feel as though they had heard the voice of 
Hermes and the thunder of Jupiter. 

During the last session of Congress, an act was passed, grant- 
ing the right of way to any company that would construct a 
magnetic teleo-raiDh line across the continent from St. Louis to 
San Francisco. But would any one believe it when I tell them, 
this act granted nothing more than the mere permission to build 
a telegraph line. Now I have read and heard of tomfoolery, and 
have even seen it, but I must confess that I have never found, on 
record, such a broad farce as this act presents, on any statute book. 
Why, in this act Congress only consents to let a company have the 
right to insert posts in the earth, on which the wires are to be 
suspended. Not a foot of land is granted, no, not even enough 
on which to erect a cabin. No provision is made to protect the 
line from destruction. This is a magnanimous act of Uncle 
Sam's towards the people of the Pacific coast. Who, in the 
name of common sense, would ask the General Government 
for the right of way, if they should choose to invest their 
money in such a work as this. Does any one suppose that the 
General Government would undertake to pull up the posts and 
otherwise destroy such a line, if a number of American citizens 
should voluntarily construct this improvement at their own ex- 
pense, and provide the means for protecting it ? No. 

The Governmant does not provide that any man shall have land 
enough for a garden and a log house. Now, it is well known, 
that if such a line was constructed, the company would have to 
select some border-men who understand the various languages 
spoken by the numerous Indian tribes on this route, to protect 
and defend the line ; and the most of these hardy mountaineers 
have Indian squaws for their wives. In this way they generally 
become leading Chiefs of tribes, and control them, and yet the 
General Government makes no provision for these men and their 
families. It is strange that Congress should have been guilty of 
perpetrating such a gross deception on the people of this country, 
as it did perpetrate by the passage of this bill. That body cer- 
tainly must have known that they had granted nothing, by this 
act, in aid of the construction of this line. It must have been 
fully aware, also, that no company would have regarded this act 



as being of any advantage to them. The fact is, the Government 
has justly rendered itself contemptible in passing such a ridic- 
ulous act as this. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



It is a matter of national humiliation that we can neither get a 
Military, Post, Wagon, Stage or Railroad across the continent, or 
even a telegraph line. Why is this ? We will tell the public. 
The capitalists and stockholders of New York city, who are in- 
terested in the Panama Line of Steamers, and who have the Gov- 
erment contract for carrying the mail between California and 
New York, can bring, and have always brought, influence enough 
to bear upon a sufficient number of members of Congress to in- 
duce them to vote against any communication whatever, between 
the Atlantic and Pacific States across the continent. As soon as 
a proposition is made to Congress to establish any one of the be- 
fore mentioned kind of roads, these men are found swarming and 
buzzing around Washington to oppose it. Year after year we 
have been trving to make some impression on the " Powers That 
Be" in the Federal city, in favor of some kind of a highway across 
the continent, without accomplishing any good. These New York 
capitalists and stockholders, whose wealth and power we have 
been every year so greatly augmenting, resist every attempt to 
form such a connection between the Pacific and Atlantic. 

Their capital and interest are in South America, and hence 
their opposition to us. Away around through Central and South 
America, we are now forced to go when we wish to travel to the 
Atlantic States, and Congress has shown itself mercenary enough 
to knuckle under to this moneyed power. In doing this, however, 
it may find, when it is too late to remedy the evil, that while the 
Government is thus pandering to a few New York capitalists, it 
may force us to take leave of the Atlantic States forever. When 
that day comes (if it ever comes, and may it never come), we will 
make New York sweat for her ingratitude to California. 

The authorities at Washington know well, that so long as Mr. 



44 

Aspinwall has the contract for carrying the mail between Cal- 
ifornia and New York, by Panama, and for which the United 
States pay him the sum of $800,000, he will always oppose any 
road across the continent. This mail contract is forever thrown 
into our teeth, whenever we ask for any kind of a continental 
road. Californians do not get the money for carrying the mail, 
but New Yorkers, yet they have to pay a large proportion of the 
expense for carrying it. No one but Mr. Aspinwall has ever 
asked the General Government to pay this enormous amount 
of money for transporting the mail between New York and San 
Francisco. There are a plenty of persons in New York and Cal- 
ifornia who would agree to carry the mail for one fourth of the 
present sum. But the mercenary " publicans and sinners" who 
hold office in Washington, and who live upon the hard toil and 
earnings of the producing classes, are willing to pay Mr. Aspin- 
wall this large appropriation. So long as he can afford to give 
them big dinners and free passages on his ships, at our expense, 
he will ever remain a trump card with them. Yet if we ask for 
any favors, this great sum of money the General Government has 
to pay for carrying the mail, is insultingly cast up at us. We 
are not going to let "a torrent of impetuous zeal transport us be- 
yond the bounds of reason," but we tell the " Powers that Be," in 
Washington, that we do not wish to have this contract thrown 
into our face any longer. Let the Secretary of the Navy and the 
Post Master General, abolish this contract, as they have, by law, 
the power to do, and it will not be long before other contractors 
will agree to carry the mail for one fourth of the present charge 
to the Government. Even the Express Companies would agree 
to transport the mail between New York and San Francisco, free 
of charge to the General Government, for the privilege of charg- 
ing the present postage rates fixed by law on all mailable matter. 
Have we not lost enough of our people, traveling around one- 
fourth of the entire globe on the bosom of two oceans, to reach 
New York or California, through sickly and foreign countries, 
to satisfy the cupidity of both Mr. Aspinwall and the authorities 
in Washington ? Are there not dead men and women sufficient 
in the ocean's depths, and along the miasmatic regions of Central 
and South America, to gratify the appetites of these gentlemen ? 
Are they still panting for more dead men and women ? Is it their 
purpose to keep us always isolated, as we now are, from the rest 



45 

of the Union ? We ask them to forbear — to reverse their policy 
towards us. Let them not be reckless of the power they enjoy. 
We must have a continental highway of some kind very soon, or 
the Federal Government may find that it will raise a storm on 
this coast that will shake the Union to its foundation. If it re- 
fuses to allow us a road of some kind, we tell the people on the 
other side, as well as the Administration in Washington, in no 
spirit of malevolence or bravado, that they will raise a flame 
here that all the waters of the great ocean that washes our shores 
can never quench. 

We have no fault to find with the Pacific Mail Steamship Line. 
It is connected with the infancy and early settlement of this part 
of our country. It has " grown with our growth, and strength- 
ened with our strength." We would regret to see it impaired in 
any manner, or its usefulness abridged. We have no complaint 
to make against any of its owners, or the commanders of its ships, 
or the agents who manage the business of the company. Messrs. 
Forbes & Babcock, the agents of the company here, have proved 
themselves friends to this country, and they have exhibited great 
liberality towards our people. They have lost money out of their 
own pockets by extending favors to Californians in distress. No 
class of steamship commanders in any part of the world stand 
higher than those employed in the Pacific Mail Company's ser- 
vice. Nor have we ought to complain of Mr. Aspinwall's course 
in the management of this company's affairs ; but we do complain 
of the General Government's casting this mail contract in our 
face whenever we ask for some aid in the construction of a con- 
tinental highway. 

What would be the condition of the Pacific coast, should the 
United States become involved in war, with such large military 
and maritime powers as France and England ? We would then 
be almost entirely in their power. Our Atlantic brethren could, 
under such an emergency, live happy and contented at their own 
homes and firesides, free from danger, while we would have our 
commerce on the ocean all cut off, as well as encounter all the 
terrible carnage and ravages of war. We would have to main- 
tain the fight almost single-handed, as we could, in such an event, 
get comparatively no help from the Parent Government. If the 
" Powers That Be " in Washington, care notliing about us, but to 
use us for their own convenience and benefit, let us know it, and 



46 

■we may then take measures to avoid being mixed up with the 
quarrels of Uncle Sam. 

But there are other agencies operating against us — resisting 
the construction of a highway across the continent. The ship- 
pers and manufacturers of the Atlantic States are also actively 
employed in opposing this continental connection. They are now 
having a large trade with us, and are enjoying a high state of 
prosperity, while our people are almost all prostrated under the 
ejffects of injuries inflicted upon us, these men openly acknowl- 
edge that they want no continental railroad, for if that is con- 
structed, their laboring population will leave them for the Far 
West. Now they are making money out of our country, and as 
long as they can keep us isolated from them, they can afford to 
pay good wages to their workmen. They say our country is only 
a place for persons to go to, to make a few thousand dollars, and 
then return home again, — that no one ever expects to live perma- 
nently here, — that this country is only intended as a means of 
benefiting the old States ; but that if a Railroad should be con- 
structed across the continent, then the Pacific coast would fill up 
with an immense population from the Atlantic States. 

When these men lose money from the sale of their goods in 
California, they hesitate not to denounce our people as thieves 
and robbers — as those who live upon the poople of the Atlantic 
States. If our semi-monthly steamers ever arrive in New York, 
bringing an aggregate shipment of gold less than two millions 
of dollars, these people invariably commence abusing us, and they 
are very frequently backed by the newspaper press of the coun- 
try. . They commence exclaiming, that the bottom of California 
has dropped out, — that the mines have all been exhausted, and 
that our people have all bursted, — that they knew how it would 
be with those persons who were fools enough to come out to this 
country, — that they expect nothing else than that the people of 
California will become a charge upon those of the Atlantic States ; 
and they never fail to circulate the most offensive and degrading 
statements about the moral character of our country. Oh ! these 
hypocrites and whited sepulchres ! how dare they thus insult us ? 
After many years long absence from our kith and kin, — after 
many years hard toil and labor to enrich them, and to give pros- 
perity to our whole country, — it is thus that they show their grati- 
tude towards us ! 



47 

They have been warned again and again, not to send out here 
their old wares and merchandise, — that our country was already 
glutted with them, — yet, in the face of these warnings, they con- 
tinued to send them. If they have lost by such shipments, then 
we are gratified to hear of it. Would that they had broken them 
all up ! Many of them will recollect telling me and others, that 
they generally sent to California their unsaleable goods. If they 
suppose we want any of their old worn out clothing and damaged 
meats and provisions, they are very much mistaken. When our 
merchants want goods of any kind, they will send for them, and 
pay for them too. But if these Atlantic shippers and manufac- 
turers send us for sale, merchandise we have not ordered, and 
they lose money by the operation, let them lay the blame to them- 
selves. ' If the same amount of goods which have been shipped 
here per annum, had been shipped to Connecticut or South Caro- 
lina for sale, they never would have brought enough to pay the 
freight on them. No merchants in the world have exerted them- 
selves to save the property of shippers from loss, like the mer- 
chants of California. In fact, many of them have broken them- 
selves up by it. No country on the globe, with the same popula- 
tion, has consumed or made use of so much merchandise as Cali- 
fornia, Oregon and Washington, considering the limited time the 
people here have occupied this country. 

But it is not a highway across the continent only, that these 
people oppose : but they will not let us have even a Telegraph 
line. They well know that if a Telegraph line, or a road of any 
kind, should be constructed, it would cause settlements to be es- 
tablished along the route, and open the way for a stage line or 
Railroad from ocean to ocean. This, of course, would lessen the 
travel between the Pacific and Atlantic States, by the way of 
Panama and San Juan. It would also unite the great West and 
Southwest with us. When this should take place, they are well 
aware the farthest way home route would be abandoned. It re- 
mains to be seen whether the now powerful States, West and 
Southwest of the Alleghanies, will permit Eastern capitalists, 
shippers and manufacturers, to oppress and overburden both them 
and us, — to discriminate against those who inhabit the most ex- 
tensive, productive aiid powerful portion of the Hepublic. 

What has California, Oregon and Washington not done for the 
Federal Government, and the people of the Atlantic States, since 



48 

tliey have been occupied by our people. We have, by the mag- 
nificence of our mineral wealth, increased the real and personal 
property of New York city and vicinity, full seventy-five millions 
of dollars, while the real and personal property of San Francisco 
is only estimated, at the present time, at thirty-nine millions of 
dollars. During the same period of time, we have also increased 
the value of the real and personal property of Boston, Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore, and other Atlantic cities, from ten to twenty 
millions each, and the aggregate value of the real and personal 
property of all the Atlantic States, over two hundred millions of 
dollars, and yet the people on the other side denounce us as rob- 
bers, and as stipendiaries upon their bounty. We hiss and scorn 
such insults. What have we not done for the wheat-growers and 
millers of Western New York and Eastern Virginia ? Have we 
not paid them millicms of dollars for their flour ? Have we not 
paid the iron manufacturers and nail cutters af New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland aud Virginia, millions of dollars for 
their nails and iron ? Have we not paid Maryland, Pennsylva- 
nia and Virginia, millions of dollars for their coal ? Have we 
not paid millions of dollars to the tobacco growers and manufac- 
turers of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, and other 
States, for their tobacco ? Virginia farmers alone have enjoyed 
an immense trade with us in flour aud tobacco. Have we not 
paid Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and North Carolina, vast 
sums of money for their rice, pitch, tar, turpentine, and lumber ? 
Have we not paid millions of dollars to the Eastern and Western 
States, for cured meats and other provisions, and the people of 
the Eastern and other manufacturing States, millions on millions 
for their manufactured goods ? 

What was the condition of the Western and South Western 
States in 1849 ? Then, vast numbers left that part of the Union 
for Calfornia and Oregon. While this emigration was going on, 
some of the papers in that region spoke as if they supposed the 
great West and South West, would soon be depopulated. How 
false have been their predictions ? Why, the people of the Pa- 
cific coast have purchased in the North Western, Western, and 
South Western States, over four hundred thousand head of cattle, 
horses and mules, and they have paid for them. In 1840, cows 
were selling in that part of the Atlantic States, at from seven to 
twelve dollars per head ; now, none can be purchased for less 



49 

than from twenty to twenty-five dollars per head. In addition to 
all this, millions of dollars have been expended in saddles, har- 
ness, wagons, carriages and provisions. We have increased the 
value of the real and personal property of these States since 1849, 
at least eighty millions of dollars, and yet, for all this we get 
nothing but abuse and denunciation. Even the ship tonnage of 
the United States has been increased, since 1849, through our 
country, over one million two hundred thousand tons. And, for 
all these great benefits, the whole country is indebted to the la- 
bors of the hardy pioneers and permanent inhabitants of the 
Pacific coast. 



CHAPTER IX. 



It has become a very common remark, on the part of the Fed- 
eral Authorities, in Washington, that the people of this country 
are reckless and indifi'erent about their ofiBcial obligations ; and 
the people on the other side of the continent never fail to re- 
proach us with being delinquent in all our commercial transac- 
tions and business aftairs, and that we live upon the bounty and 
labor of those in the Atlantic States. Let us see how this first 
charge will bear examination. Now, it is a well known fact, that 
there was comparatively no thieving, no malfeasance in office, and 
no lawless acts committed by any of our people, until the Gov- 
ernment in Washington set us an example. When it attempted, 
in the most unblushing manner, to seize all of our mineral lands, 
for the jiurpose of leasing or selling them to Atlantic and Euro- 
pean capitalists ; when it succeeded in outlawing all of our laud 
titles, and declared it to be its unalterable determination not to 
let a single pioneer or native have one foot of land in this country, 
then the thieves, who had before that been kept under restraint, 
commenced their operations, and the Federal Government has the 
credit of being the first to set them upon us. No robbing, com- 
paratively, took place in California, until it was found out that 
the authorities in Washington were determined, if they could, to 
rob us of all our mineral and agricultural lands. They were, 
therefore, the first to show themselves reckless and indifi'erent 
4 



50 

about their official and legal obligations. However mncli we 
may have suffered from the acts of convicts and criminals, none 
of them have injured us half so much as that very Government 
which had pledged itself to protect us. After it had commenced 
a crusade against all of our property, and set loose upon us any 
quantity of robbers, it then denounced the whole of us as un- 
trustworthy. 

The pioneers of California know that what we have stated is 
the " truth of history." Every one here looked upon the agri- 
cultural lands of our country as having been virtually outlawed 
by the Government at Washington, and that it was determined 
to make a desperate struggle to take from our people all of their 
mineral lauds. Before this, it is a well known fact, that but few 
ever closed their doors after night, — that one-half their goods re- 
mained outside of their buildings, — and that gold dust could re- 
main on the counter all day, and all night, and no one would dare 
to molest it. But, as soon as it became known that the Federal 
Authorities, in Washington, were aiming to get possession of all 
the mineral and agricultural lands of the State, then a part of 
the State and Municipal -officers, and the rouges of all countries, 
commenced their thieving warfare upon us, and we regret very 
much to say, that we have never yet got fairly rid of them. 

The Vigilance Committee, composed of some of the best men 
in the State, in 1851, hung a portion of these thieves, and trans- 
ported others, and thus saved us from being robbed of all our 
personal property. These very men who were hung, as well as 
those that were transported, admitted that they never would have 
acted as they did, had they not seen a disposition, on the part of 
the Federal, State and Municipal authorities, to plunder the 
country. They then acted as if the whole State was going to 
reck, and they determined to resume their old profession of 
thieving. They admitted that they justly deserved the punish- 
ment which the Vigilance Committee had inflicted upon them, 
but they all said that they thought those who set them the exam- 
ple ought likewise to be punished. They spoke the truth, and all 
were compelled to acknowledge the justice of it. No country, 
and no people have been so deeply wronged as the people of the 
State of California, by those entrusted with power. The history 
of the whole civilized world may be searched in vain, to hud a 
case equal, for oppression and injustice, to that inflicted on this 



51 

young Commonwealth, by the Federal, State and Municipal au- 
thorities. Had the Federal Government not been apprehensive 
that we would have hung all the Federal officers and agents sent 
out here. to dispose of our mineral lands, it is very evident that 
it would have sold them long before this. Of course, we attribute 
much of their conduct towards this State, to their ignorance of 
the condition of our country. It was our firmness, and its fears, 
however, that saved our State from being utterly prostrated. 

The Federal Officers, in this country, have always been consid- 
ered as mere stool-pigeons of the General Government. They 
have always been so tied up by the authorities in Washington, as 
to render their positions anything but pleasant. None of them 
are trusted, and all of them' are surrounded by spies, sent out 
here from the Atlantic States. These California Federal Officers 
are always required to spend their time and money.for the " Pow- 
ers That Be ;"' and as soon as they fail to obey, in all things, they 
are most generally dismissed from the service, and pronounced 
defaulters. All the Collectors of the Port of San Francisco, 
with the exception of Mr. Latham, the present incumbent, and all 
the Indian Superintendents and Agents of the State, have been 
declared defaulters, and it will ever remain the case, so long as a 
Federal Officer is true to this country, and refuses to be made a 
menial slave to the authorities in Washington. It appears to 
have been, and still is, the settled policy of each Federal Admin- 
istration, to make out a bad case against all the United States 
Officers in this country, they cannot use. - It is not our intention 
to shield any of the Federal Officers in California, who may vio- 
late their official oaths, or unlawfully make ui'e of the powers 
confided to them, or the public funds entrusted to their keeping. 

One thing is evident, to every intelligent citizen in this coun- 
try, — every public man who has attempted to uphold and defend 
the conduct and policy of the General Government towards Cali- 
fornia, has always been deserted by the people, and politically 
prostrated in the State. If any one desires to blast his political 
prospects forever, let him vindicate the " old fogies " and " dug- 
outs " in Washington, and he will soon go by the board. No act 
would create a bigger disgust, in the minds of the people of this 
State, than a defence of these .old Washington rats. They are 
considered as being at least sixty years behind the age, and as 
knowing comparatively nothing about the country, but what trans- 



52 

pires within the " City of Magnificent Distances." The people 
on this coast are too independent and intelligent, to be " booted 
and spurred," and dragged about and used by those who are 
puffed up with a " little brief authority," in the Federal City. 

Not long since, the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Guthrie, 
was guilty of an act of unpardonable injustice to Judge Hoff- 
man, Judge of the United States District Court, for Northern 
California, which produced universal contempt for that high Fed- 
eral Official, in all parts of this country. It appears that Levy, 
one of the firm of St. Losky, Levy & Co., who was arrested in 
San Francisco, for smuggling, and for which crime he was tried 
and convicted, and afterwards pardoned by the President, has a 
brother living in Havana. When he discovered that his brother 
in California had beeii arrested, and was about to be tried for the 
crime he had committed, this brother in Havana attempted to 
bribe certain Custom House Officers in Cuba, with the view of 
suppressing all information which might be used to the prejudice 
of Levy, in California. After he had arranged, for this purpose, 
to his satisfaction, with the Custom House Officers of Llavana, 
he then approached Mr. Savage, the Secretary, of the American 
Consul. He said to Mr. Savage, that his brother in California 
would not be convicted — that the Judge that was to try him 
"was all right," (meaning Judge Hoffman.) — and that he was 
willing to pay to the Secretary one hundred and fifty doubloons, 
if he would withhold certain official information against his 
brother. ' Mr. Savage communicated these facts to the Consul, 
Mr. W. H. Robertson, and he communicated them, in a private 
and unofficial note, to the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Guth- 
rie, instead of sending this charge against Judge Hoffman to him 
in person, to enable him to defend himself against it, sends it to 
Col. Inge, the United States District Attorney. While these 
documents were on file, in Mr. Inge's office, it appears the city 
reporters obtained possession of tliem, and published their con- 
tents to the world, before Judge Hoffman was aware of the ex- 
istence of this foul aspersion on his Judicial integrity and repu- 
tation. The first information he had of this unfounded and un- 
sustained charge, was in reading the morning papers of San Fran- 
cisco, which contained it. What could have been the motive of 
Mr. Guthrie, in sending this grave charge against Judge Hoff- 
man, " the truth of which he himself did not believe," to the Dis- 



53 

trict Attorney, instead of to Judge Hoffman. The , charge con- 
tained in Mr. Consul Robertson's letter, concerned Judge Hoffman 
and no one else. Certainly the Secretary's conduct, in this case, 
appears as if he intended to blast the standing and reputation of 
the Judge of the United States District of Northern California. 
If he did not intend to do so, he -would have sent the correspon- 
dence to Judge Hoffman. 

The authorities in Washington have always " aided and abet- 
ted," in circulating slanders about the people of this country, 
although it is a -well known fact, that they draw the principal 
part of their revenues from the mines of California. The most 
of them are a set of " old rats " and " spavin-legged nags," who 
have been living on the public (to the exclusion of their betters) 
nearly all the days of their lives. They have none of the states- 
manship, patriotism, energy of character, comprehensiveness and 
abilit}' of those mighty men who have preceded them in the pub- 
lic service. Their living superiors in this country have never 
held any office. The times for the employment of great men in 
the service of the country, appears to have passed away, and mere 
pigmies now fill the places where intellectual giants formerly pre- 
sided and controlled the destinies of this great Republic. 

They act as if there was no such an ocean as the Pacific. That 
little " fish pond," called the Atlantic, they consider as the only 
ocean on which floats the great commercial and naval power of 
the world. Nearly all of their legislation is confined to that old 
" duck pond." Although the evidence is within their reach, yet 
they appear never to have known the fact, that the annual float- 
ing marine tonnage employed in the Pacific is, at this time^ larger 
than that employed in the Atlantic, and for the future it will al- 
ways be increasing over that of the Atlantic. They have never 
considered the fact, that two- thirds of the human race reside within 
the Islands of, or around the shores of the Pacific ocean. This 
great ocean, on a part of whose shores we reside, is already the 
chief highway of nations ; and yet, it is strange that the authori- 
ties at Washington know nothing, comparatively, of what is tak- 
ing place in this vast trading and commercial region of the world. 
0, foolish and perverse statesmen !" who has bewitched you?" 
What can the " great men in buckram," in the Federal City, be 
thinking of? Do they not know that the great contest between the 
maritime States of the world is soon to come off, for the commer- 



54 

cial supremac}^ of the Pacific ? Why is Russia now willing to 
make peace with the Allies on such liberal terms ? It is this. 

Russia has determined, for the present, to abandon the contest 
for the possession and control of the Dardanelles, to enable her to 
have a free outlet into the Mediterranean and the Atlantic for 
her naval and commercial marine. We have it on good authori- 
ty, that as soon as peace has been concluded, she will then trans- 
fer all her energies and power for the purpdse of strengthening 
her dominion on this Ocean. She can afford to submit to certain 
temporary restrictions on the Atlantic, for the sake of getting 
the better of the European Powers on the Pacific. No country 
possesses superior advantages to her, for the accomplishment of 
this great object. The Amour River, whose waters form a part 
of this great ocean, is navigable two thousand two hundred 
miles from its mouth, back into the interior of the Empire, and 
this whole distance is now navigated by small steamers, built on 
the Western Rivers of the United States. The larger part of 
the country through which it runs, contains a rich alluvial soil, 
and is said to be very productive. At the mouth of the Amour 
she can, and no doubt will, establish a large commercial city and 
a vast naval depot. When this is done, she has all China and 
Japan at her immediate command, and if she is but true to her- 
self, she can there lay the foundations of one of the mightiest 
commercial cities in the world. 

England has all of Australia and the principal part of Eastern 
Asia, and the Indian Archipelago, as well as numerous islands in 
the South Pacific. France, Spain, Portugal and Holland, have 
also planted themselves in different parts of this great ocean, and 
these Governments are true to their people. But our Govern, 
ment, like a miserable old miser and dotard, is hampering and 
tying us up here as if it intended to drive us from the country 
altogether. It takes no interest in our prosperty and success. It 
appreciates none of the pride and energy we exhibit for the 
spread of our commerce and manufactures, institutions, dominion, 
and power in this vast region of the globe. Even the washwo- 
men in this country take more interest in its 'welfare, than a ma- 
jority of those in Washington, who are entrusted with ofiicial 
responsibility and the control of the destinies of this Great Re- 
public. If some of them would come to this part of the Union 
and see what we have been doing for .our whole country, they 



56 

might go Lack home again wiser and better men. They would 
then see how ridiculous they had been acting towards that part 
of the Union to which we belong. 



CIIArTEPi X. 



The pioneers of every country have always had to prepare the 
way for others ; to settle new regions of the world, at their 
own expense ; to lay the foundation of new States and Empires, 
as well as new commercial cities ; to be the first to diffuse the 
principles of civil liberty, education, and christian civilization, 
and otherwise " redeem, regenerate and disentral" mankind. 
The people and country for whom they thus spend their time and 
labor, most generally oppress them as well as underrate their 
services. Those who remain at home and have the control of the 
Government, generally regard such men as adventurers, who are 
never to be consulted in the administration of political affairs. 
Those who never travel, at least over their own country, are rare- 
ly ever practical men. Especially is this the case with all those 
who are employed in the public service. While the Government 
is able to pay them their salaries, they are contented to remain 
at home and live in luxury and idleness. They consider them- 
selves a privileged class, as men much " wiser than their genera- 
tion." This is the case with the majority of those who are now 
connected with public affairs in Washington, and are directing 
the destinies of the country. They are unfit for the places they 
now fill. Their minds are too contracted, and their knowlcge of 
the people, the condition and progress of this extended and ex- 
tending Republic, is too limited to make them safe statesmen and 
law makers. They invariably look upon those who arc pioneers 
and forerunners, those who are settling the public domain and 
building up new States and new cities, as having, comparatively, 
but few political rights, and of no consideration in the adminis- 
tration of public affairs. 

The British Cabinet in the reign of George the Third, ever 
regarded the pioneers of America as " hewers of wood and draw- 
ers of water" to the Home Government in England. Our fathers 



56 

were never allowed to have any voice in the administration of the 
Government. Offices were all given to the favorites of the Gov- 
ernment at home, and they were shipped to America at public ex- 
pense, .to rule over the country and to eat out its substance. If 
our ancestors complained of such injustice, they were reproached 
and frequently punished for their complaints. Great Britain con- 
tinued to pursue this tyrannical policy, and although our ancestors 
remonstrated against it, and said that they would resist if these 
grievances were not abated, yet the British Cabinet heeded not 
these warnings. Finally, to show their contempt for our fathers, 
they attempted to exact an unconstitutional tax from them, even 
by force of arms. This, of course, led to an open rupture be- 
tween England and her colonies, and both parties made an appeal 
to arms for the settlement of their difiiculties. The ignorance 
manifested by the Home Government of the character of our 
fathers and the condition of their country, as well as its head- 
strong obstinacy towards the people of America, lost the king an 
Empire, and compelled that haughty Government to knuckle un- 
der to those very men whom the British King and his Cabinet 
had always held in such utter contempt and derision. Let the 
Government at Washington take warning from these facts, and 
avoid treating the people on the Pacific coast for the future, as 
the British Government treated our ancestors, for its course to- 
wards us may be attended with the same results that attended the 
contest between the colonies and England. 

The United States came very near committing some very egre- 
gcous blunders growing out of this very indifference to the rights 
and interests of the pioneers even as early as 1783. It will be 
recollected by those who have studied the legislative and diplo- 
matic history of this country, that after our revolutionary army 
under Washington had achieved the important victory over the 
disciplined troops of Great Britain, at the battle of Yorktown, 
the general impression prevailed, and very justly prevailed, in the 
United States, that England would not maintain the contest 
against the colonies any longer. The result proved that this 
opinion was correct. The Continental Congress, therefore, pre- 
pared to treat with the King of Great Britain for a general 
peace and the acknowlegement of our independence. Here, a diffi- 
culty arose with our fathers, whether they should insist upon Great 
Britain's acknowledging our claim to all of her possessions 



57 

in the United States of America. Some considered that they 
should ask for no more than what is now known as the thirteen 
original States, and thus restrict the limits of the United States 
to that part of the country lying east of the Allegany Jilountains. 
Others contended that we must have all the country held by Eng- 
land previous to the commencement of the Revolutionary War. 
This division of opinion among the statesmen of that day, came 
near loosing us the whole Western, North Western, and South 
Western States. 

When our Commissioners, viz : Benjamin Franklin, Henry 
Laurens and John Adams, appointed by the Continental Con- 
gress to treat with Great Britain and France, for a general peace 
and the acknowledgment of our independence, made their appear- 
ance on the part of the colonies, they found themselves surround- 
ed and annoyed by conflicting interests. England was willing 
to acknowledge the iudedependence of the thirteen Colonies, 
but she insisted upon holding on to all the Territories West, 
North West, anci- South West of the Allegany Mountains, which 
she had taken from France in a previous war. On the other 
hand, France desired the United States to transfer to her all 
the Territories in that part of America which England had con- 
quered from her, in consideration of the naval and military ser- 
vices she had rendered to our country in the Revolutionary War. 
France, like England, was also in favor of restricting the United 
States to the Territories of the Union lying East of the Allegany 
Mountains. Spain held oif, and refused to treat, as she was not 
inclined to take sides until she found out how matters would ter- 
minate. It was a fortunate thing for the country that it had such 
able, farseeing, and patriotic negotiators as Franklin, Adams and 
Laurens, on that occasion. 

Our Commissioners refused to yield an inch to either England 
or France. They preferred rather to re-open the war than to sur- 
render one jot or tittle of their country. They were resolved to 
have all the Territory claimed by England previous to the war, 
or go back and fight the Revolution over again. Their firmness, 
and the rivalry and jealousy existing between England and France, 
enabled them, finally to triumph. Great Britain could never con- 
sent that France should ever get possession of the great Western, 
South Western, and North Western portions of America, She 

therefore yielded to the claims of our Commissioners, and ackuow- 
4* 



58 

ledged, not only onr independence, but our claim to the whole of 
her dominions within the limits of the United States, France, of 
course, had to consent to this arrangement, and then Spain, like 
a whipped hound, came in, and was exceedingly anxious to show 
her readiness to treat with our Commissioners, and to acknowl- 
edge our independence. The United States were then right on 
the borders of some of her colonies in America, and she might 
well afford, after England and France had acknowledged our in- 
dependence, to affect some magnanimity towards us, but before 
that, she stood aloof from our Commissioners. 

King George the Third, however, never forgave the people of 
America for separating from Great Britain, or our Commissioners 
for out-witting and over-reaching him in the Treaty of 1783. Great 
Britain utterly refused, in compliance with this Treaty, to give 
up her posts in the Northwest and West, and she never did give 
them up until she was forced to do it. She protected the Indians 
and induced them to combine against our country, and to make 
war on the pioneers who then inhabited that now magnificent 
portion of this Union. This she did, as we have before said, in 
direct violation of a solemn Treaty, and her refusal to do so, be- 
came one of the chief grounds of our second war with her for 
independence. Spain, for the most of this time, held all that part 
of the West and Southwest, known as the Louisiana purchase. 
She also played the same deceitful and treacherous course towards 
lis that England did. Agents were employed by both of these 
European Powers, to corrupt our civil and military officers, em- 
ployed in the public service in that part of the country, and it is 
evident that many of them were corrupted. It is now a gener- 
ally conceded fact, that Judge Sebastian, a United States Judge 
in Kentucky, under the Administrations of Mr. Adams and Mr. 
Jefferson, was in the pay of Spain, to decide against our people 
in his Courts, and to throw every obstacle in their way possible 
to prevent the free navigation of the Mississippi River to its 
mouth. He had a salary of $2,000 per annum from the United 
States, and the same amount from Spain, and he rarely ever failed 
to give Spain, in his decisions, a preference over the United 
States. This defection among a prominent class of men in the 
West, led Aaron Burr, after he had been disgraced, to enter upon 
his treasonable scheme for separating all the Western and South- 
western States and Territories from those of the East, with the 



59 

view of organizinp; a new Republic in that part of America. His 
arrest and trial, however, broke up this conspiracy, and overthrew 
all the plans of the traitors associated with him. 

But a more important struggle took place in reference to the 
pioneers of these Western States, in the Philadelphia Conven- 
tion, which framed and adopted the Federal Constitution. Here 
there were men who not only proposed, but earnestly supported 
the project of cutting off the whole West, and to restrict the 
limits of the United States to the country East of the Allegany 
Mountains. After this scheme failed, another one was proposed, 
with the view of excluding that whole vast region of the Union. 
That project was, to make no provision in the Federal Constitu- 
tion for the admission of new States. This scheme, like the for- 
mer one, also failed. They were defeated by James Madison and 
those who co-operated with him. But few men have performed 
such signal services to the whole country as James Madison. He 
was a wise and able statesman, and a pure patriot, and his memo- 
ry will ever be cherished by all those who can appreciate a free 
Constitutional Government, the liberty of conscience, and the 
freedom of speech. 

But the pioneers of these now jBourishing States had still other 
difficulties to encounter and overcome, to save themselves and 
their part of the country from additional restrictions. The first 
law which was passed by Congress, providing for the sale of the 
public domain, divided up the lands into parcels of six thousand 
acres each. No one could purchase a less amount of land than 
six thousand acres. This law, of course, placed all the lands of 
these Western Territories into the hands of Eastern capitalists. 
Against this oppressive law, the Western pioneers made a long 
and obstinate resistance. They finally succeeded, through Gen- 
eral Harrison, in having the lands divided up into quarter sec- 
tions of one hundred and sixty acres. This law gave a new im- 
petus to emigration to the West. But, this was not a sufficient 
concession to the people of that part of the Union. The next 
great relief measure was procured for them through the exertions 
of Mr. Clay, and others. That great man succeeded in inducing 
Congress to reduce the price of the public lands to $1 25 per 
acre to all actual settlers. After this, the pioneers succeeded in 
obtaining the right to pre-empt public lands, and to restrict every 
purchaser to one quarter section. These great measures of " de- 



60 

liverence and liberty " sayed the vast West, and filled its immense 
public domain with a thrifty, intelligent and industrious popula- 
tion. They also released the people of this now powerful portion 
of the Union from the tyranny of the old States. 

It is now our painful and unfortunate lot to encounter the same 
difficulties which the pioneers of the West had to encounter, in 
days that are past. But if anything, our difficulties are more in- 
tolerable than those of all the pioneers who have preceded us. 
The illiberality and tyranny exhibited towards us by the General 
iGrovernment, and a majority of the people of the Atlantic States, 
is not only inexcusable and indefensible, but it is most shameful 
and treasonable. It is not our purpose, however, any longer to 
submit to the insolence of the authorities in Washington, and 
those who sustain them in the Atlantic States. They have rob- 
bed us of our lands, and they have attempted to rob us of our 
mineral lands ; they have refused to execute the laws passed by 
Congress for the benefit of California and the Pacific coast ; they 
have unjustly taxed us more than any other people in the United 
States ; they have kept us isolated from the rest of the Union ; 
they have refused to give us any connection across the continent 
to the States on the other side ; they have filled our country with 
spies, to malign and slander our people ; they have picked up 
men from the debaucheries of the East, and shipped them out here 
at public expense, to displace Californians holding office under 
the Federal Government ; they have withheld from us nearly two 
million of dollars, acknowledged to belong to us ; they have ne- 
glected to pay the pioneer army of California, for services rendered 
in the late war with Mexico, while they have paid their regular 
land and naval forces employed in the same service ; they have 
neglected to pay for provisions, horses, saddles and money fur- 
nished by the pioneers to the California troops, and the troops of 
the United States ; they have refused to pay many of their own 
civil officers in this country, money which they have acknowl- 
edged to belong to them ; they have, for the sake of embarrass- 
ing those pioneers who held lands which have been confirmed by 
the Board of Land Commissioners, ordered the United States 
District Attorney to carry these suits against the lands of the 
pioneers, to the United States District Courts of California, and 
to the Supreme Court at Washington, while at the same time they 
have refused to Q:ive the Clerks of these District Courts money 



61 

to carry their orders into effect ; they have refused to defend 
and protect property on whicli their own public works are con- 
structed, thus compelling Californians to defend, at their own 
expense, property belonging to the United States ; they have, 
while legislating for the whole Union, frequently left California, 
Oregon and Washington out of the Act ; they have given all con- 
tracts, for the construction of Government works on the Pacific, 
to persons living on the other side of the continent, (with the ex- 
ception of the San Francisco Custom House,) in preference to 
Californians ; they have filled all their diplomatic and consular 
appointments in the Pacific Ocean, with men selected from the 
Atlantic States — men, too, who have no acquaintance with our 
part of the country, and its commerce or commercial affairs what- 
ever ; they have kept an overflowing Treasury, by drawing every 
dollar they could from California ; they have refused, in every 
instance, to respect our petitions and appeals to them for redress 
of these grievances. It is now, therefore, time that we should 
know and understand one another. If the Government is deter- 
mined to adhere to its past policy, we are then prepared to take 
our position, and all the conse(juences which may attend it. 

There is one course pursued by the General Government 
towards California, that has never been pursued towards any 
other State or Territory in this Union. It is too despotic and 
insulting to be tolerated any longer. The Federal Government 
has a regular established spy in this country, and always has had 
one, whose province it is to watch our people, and especially the 
merchants and the Federal Officers, and to report everything con- 
nected with his office to the President and the Cabinet at Wash- 
ington. All of his reports are kept a profound secret from the 
public and the parties concerned. How do we know but what 
our people are grossly libelled and maligned by these secret 
agents ? The character of some of them was most grossly tra- 
duced, under Mr. Fillmore's Administration, by the secret agent 
then in California. This system of appointing spies has never 
been known in our country, until California became a State. If 
we lived under the Governments of Austria, Russia, or those 
of other despotic countries, we might expect to be surrounded by 
Government spies ; but in a free country like this, such a state of 
things is insufferable, and a disgrace to the Federal Government. 

It is said that Mr. J. H. Clay Mudd held this oflice in Califor- 



62 

nia, under Mr. Fillmore, It is now held by, I understand, J, 
Ross Brown, under Mr. Pierce. His commission allows, and 
even requires of liim to examine the accounts of all the Federal 
Officers, and to call them to account for all their official acts, and 
to regulate all the contracts made by the General Government, 
in California. Indeed, he has about all the powers that belong 
to the President, and virtually supplies his place on the Pacific. 
The .Federal Government could not offer to our State and its 
people a greater insult than this. Does it suppose that all of its 
officers, and all of the inhabitants of California arc thieves ? 
Must they be watched over by men picked up in Washington, and 
sent out here at public expense ? Who is to vouch for this se- 
cret agent's honesty and fidelity ? Are his statements to be pre- 
ferred to the statements of such men as Milton S. Latham, Col. 
Jack Hays, Major Snyder, Judge Lott, Mr. Weller, and other 
Federal Officers ? Did the Federal Government believe, when it 
appointed these gentlemen to office, that they would steal, and 
that it was necessary to place over them a spy to watch them ? 
Has ever yet any one called in question their official integrity ? 

The office held by Mr. Brown is an ignoble one, and he should 
give it up. It is offensive to the people of California, and to the 
Officers of the Federal Government. It is in conflict with our 
institutions, derogatory to the age in which we live, and discredit- 
able to the Federal Government. Mr. Brown's visit to Col. 
Monroe and Mr. Johnson — the former the Clerk of the United 
States District Court for Northern California, and the latter the 
Clerk of the United States Circuit Court ifor California — ought 
to satisfy him that gentlemen in the service of the United States 
are not prepared to submit to domiciliary visits from the secret 
agents of the President, to overhaul their accounts and call in 
question their official acts. We know of some others in the pub- 
lic service of the United States, who will give him no very pleas- 
ant welcome, should he make a demand upon them to give him an 
account of their stewardship. 



63 

CHAPTEPi XI. 



Long before the people of California became aware of the ex- 
istence of war between the United States and Mexico, Upper and 
Lower California were virtually separated from the last named 
Republic. The oppressive and tyrannical course of the Mexican 
Government of California, towards our countrymen, drove the 
American people then residing in the State, to take up arms 
against their oppressors. They forced the Government to yield 
to their wishes, and it was not until the United States flag was 
hoisted at Monterey, in July, 1S46, that open war commenced be- 
tween the United States troops and those of Mexico. As we 
have said before, the country was actually conquered before the 
Government of the United States was able to render our people 
here any assistance. Even when the United States troops did 
come to the rescue of the people of California, they did compara- 
tively nothing towards achieving the conquest of the country. 
All the hard fighting was done by the pioneers then living in 
California. It is a violation of the "' truth of history," to give 
the United States land and naval forces the credit of conquering 
and subduing the Mexicans. Some of the U. S. officers cut a most 
ludicrous figure in that war. Capt. Merwin, Commander of the 
United States ship-of-war Savannah, on his march with three hun- 
dred men from San Pedro to Los Angeles, was compelled, by one 
hundred and fifty Mexicans, to retreat and find protection on 
board of his ship. Now, we do not undertake to say, that be- 
cause Capt. Merwin, with three hundred men, was compelled to 
retreat before one hundred and fifty Mexicans, either he or his 
men were wanting in courage, but we do mean to say this, — that 
none of the pioneers ever had to retreat from the Mexicans ; that 
they never lost a battle, and that some of the United States 
forces, when pursued, did retreat, and that they did not achieve 
any great victories in the war. 

Some of Colonel Stevenson's men did good service, but I can- 
not find where any great deeds were performed by the regular 
forces of the army and the navy. Many individuals belonging to 
both these arms of national defence, we admit, performed signal 
services in the war, but the " truth of history" requires that the 



64 

credit of conquering California from Mexico, justly belongs to 
the pioneer army under the lead of Ford, Fremont, Gillespie and 
others. All attempts to overslaugh the pioneers by the United 
States of&cers of the Array and Navy, will fail. All bogus history 
is perishable, and nothing but the truth will live. Brother Jon- 
athan's regular forces may continue to manufacture history about 
the war in California until they have all " kicked the bucket" and 
they will accomplish nothing for themselves after all. 

" Truth crushed to earth will rise again, 
The eternal years ot God are her's." 

"We do not wish to detract from any portion of the land and na- 
val forces engaged in that war. No, we would not take from 
them any of the laurels justly belonging to them, but at the same 
time we do not desire to see the real conquerors of California 
overslaughed by those who did the least in that contest. 
" Not only have the regular forces of the army and navy had the 
credit of conquering California from Mexico, but they have ail 
been paid off by the General Government for their services in 
that war, while the pioneers, the real conquerors of California, 
have been overlooked by it altogether. But a very few have been 
paid off, and some of those who have been paid by the Govern- 
ment, have lost money by the expenses attending the collection 
of it. Major Snyder's claim for service in that war, was about 
eight hundred dollars, yet his agent in Washington, after he had 
obtained it, wrote him that the expense he had been put to in the 
collection of it, was one hundred and fifty dollars more than the 
whole claim came to. So Major Snyder got nothing for his ser- 
vices and losses in the war. Not only have the pioneers not re- 
ceived their pay, but the General Government is still owing them 
and others who furnished their army, and that of the United 
States forces with horses, saddles, provisions and money, to en- 
able them to prosecute the war. A large number of the officers 
and privates of the pioneer army, as well as the native Califor- 
nians, who took sides with the Americans, after they had found 
that the authorities in Washington would not pay, either for 
services rendered by those who had been engaged in the war, or 
those who had assisted it, and enabled it to be successful, abandon- 
ed all idea of prosecuting their claims. A great many have now 
lost their papers, and will, perhaps, never condescend again to ask 
the General Government for their pay. They are well satisfied 



65 

that the authorities in "Washington would rather spend public 
money " any day in the week," on some common snob or political 
pimp around Washington, than to save a California pioneer from 
starvation, by paying him his just dues. One thing is^certain, a 
truthful history of the pioneers, and the wrongs done them by the 
Government, will be written and published. Thank God, the 
Federal Authorities can never suppress this history. 

From July, 1846, and up to the day the Military Governor ceas- 
ed to have control of the revenue service, the people of California 
voluntarily paid, although under protest, a tariff on foreign goods 
imported into the State, rather than come to an open rupture with 
our naval and military commanders. There was no law requiring 
duties to be collected from the merchant, and no revenue officer 
was ever authorized by Congress, or by the Executive and Trea- 
sury Departments of the Government to collect revenue, until 
Col. Collier, the first Civil Collector, reached San Francisco from 
Washington. To show that we have the highest authority for 
this declaration, we will quote from Mr. Polk's last Annual Mes- 
sage to Congress of the Session of '48 and '49. He said : 

" No revenue has been or could be collected at the ports of 
California, because Congress failed to authorise the establish- 
ment of Custom Houses or the appointment of officers for that 
purpose." 

It is evident, therefore, from the Message of President Polk, 
that he never regarded the revenue collected by Gen. Riley, as 
belonging to the Treasury of the United States, neither did Gen. 
Riley, or any one else, until the old fogies and speculators around 
Washington, had made up their minds to plunder this young com- 
monwealth. 

The amount collected under the orders of Gen. Riley, which he 
held for, and ever regarded as belonging to the State of Califor- 
nia, was $1,016,255 67. Out of this fund there were expended by 
him, for the benefit of the State, the following sums, viz : $162,- 
236,27, for the expense of the State Convention and the organiza- 
tion of the State Government, and $100,000 to send relief to the 
the emigrants crossing the plains in 1849. This left a balance 
belong to the State, of $754,019,40. This fund has never been 
returned to the State, as Congress passed an act turning the 
whole amount over to the General Fund of the Treasury of the 
United States. It was an unjust and ungrateful act on the part 
5 



66 

of the Parent Government. This money was taken from the 
State against the solemn protests of Gen. Eiley, the Collector of it, 
Capt. Halleck, the then Secretary of State, Com. Jones, Gen. 
Percifer F. Smith, and the Government and the people of Califor- 
nia. The Government of the United States never had any claim 
to this fund, and the manner of taking it avray from the State of 
California, was as outrageous and as felonious as if it had author- 
ized any one of its ojfficers to rob, by force, the iron safes of our 
merchants. 

Although the General Government, about two years ago, by act 
of Congress, appropriated nearly one million of dollars for the 
payment of the Indian War Debt of this State, still, even this 
sum is withheld from us on mere quibbles and technicalities. Our 
Indian War claim against the Federal Government now amounts 
to $1,124,935,63. If we could get the amount due us on the 
Civil Fund, in addition to the War Fund, the whole would amount, 
in the aggregate, to $1,878,956,93. This sum would pay off about 
two-thirds of our present State indebtedness, and release our 
people from their present most onorous taxation. The Govern- 
ment at Washington has never properly considered and appre- 
ciated our condition, and the hardships and difficulties we have 
had to undergo in building up and in rendering productive to our 
common country, this new, extensive, yet remote portion of the 
American Union. We have been too much regarded as adven- 
turers and sojourners on this coast, where we are expected to 
live isolated from the rest of the Union, to be preyed upon by 
Congress and the Atlantic merchants and manufacturers, and it 
appears impossible to convince them of their mistake. 

Any one who has lived here for some six months or a year, and 
has, perhaps, during that time become notorious for his corrup- 
tion and peculation, and has succeeded in accumulating a few 
thousand dollars, and leaves for the Atlantic States, and there 
sets himself up as a California millionare, is sure to be courted 
and lionized by the people there, at the expense of our people and 
the character of our State. If he carries a gold headed cane and 
wears gold breast pins and finger rings, and sports a heavy gold 
watch chain, he becomes the " observed of all observers." He is 
considered the gayest of the gay, and lives sumptuously in pal- 
aces, and has a cart hianche to marry any one of the belles of 
fashion on the Atlantic side. All the country appears to be in a 



6T 

rage about such coxcombs. Big dinners and suppers, magnificent 
wedding parties and Government contracts, are given them, and 
most all persons arc ready to consult and advise with such men 
about California. This shows just what dupes they are on the 
other side, and how little they know about the people of this 
country. Even the Government officers and most all the politi- 
cians around Washington, regard such coxcombs with special 
favor, although, they may have been considered here as the con- 
tempt of all wise men, and the admiration of fools, yet there 
they are, looked upon as oracles of wisdom and worthy of all 
acceptation. If a plain citizen of California goes to the Atlan- 
tic States on a visit, he is passed by and cast aside by and for 
these men. He is supposed not to know anything about the Pa- 
cific coast — isdooked upon as a laborer, a miner, or a plain farm- 
er with no influence, and therefore, worthy of no consideration. 
Such men are made to appear also as bogus Californians ; while 
the coxcombs are put down as Californians, par excellence, al- 
though many of them may have had to " leave their country for 
their country's good." 



CHAPTEPt XII. 



Some sixteen years since, Daniel Webster in the Senate of the 
United States, offered a resolution to that body, in which he pro- 
posed that the General Government should make some arrange- 
ment with the Government of Mexico, for the privilege of using 
the harbor and Bay of San Francisco, for the use and benefit of 
our merchant and whaleships in the North Pacific, and also as a 
rendezvous station for our ships of war. This proposition failed 
to receive any serious consideration at the hands of Congress, or 
the Federal Executive. At that time, but few of our statesmen 
had paid any attention to the condition of our Territories on the 
Pacific coast, and our commerce on this ocean. Indeed, they 
knew comparatively nothing of the condition, resources, and com- 
mercial influence of the numerous and populous nations inhabit- 
ing the shores and islands of the Pacific. There were but few, 
that did not scout the idea that the Government of the United 



68 

States, would ever extend its possessions on these distant shores, 
or wield any political or commercial influence on this ocean. Mr. 
Webster very frequently said, that our statesmen neglected too 
much the duty of studying the condition of their country, and un- 
derstanding the wants and necessities of those regions, remote 
from the seat of the Federal Government ; and for this reason, he 
was always fearful that our Territories on the Pacific would be 
neglected and deeply wronged by the authorities in Washington. 
He, therefore, said that he would not be surprised, nor could he 
blame us, if we should erect here, an Independent Republic of our 
own. 

In 1846, the whole country was agitated from centre to circum- 
ference, growing out of our difiiculties with Great Britain, in 
reference to the settlement of the boundary line between the Ter- 
ritories of Oregon and the Territories of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany, on the Pacific. During the discussion of this subject in 
Congress, the most of our leading statesmen looked upon our 
possessions on this side of the continent, as of no earthly value 
or consequence to the Union. They, therefore, rather than have 
any farther dispute and difficulty with Great Britain about these 
possessions, abandoned our just claim to the line of 54 deg. 40 
min., and for which we had contended for nearly half a century, 
and agreed to accept, as a final compromise, the line of 49 deg. 

At the close of the late war with Mexico, we acquired, among 
other territory, the present State of California. When this treaty 
was presented to the Senate for its ratification, a large number of 
the members of that august body, even considered the acquisition 
of this now young giant State of the Pacific, as of no very great 
consequence to the North American Republic. They did not be- 
lieve that it Avould add anything of importance to the commerce, 
resources, revenues and power of the country. How have these 
men been deceived ! What a change has not California already 
wrought in the financial and commercial affairs of our own coun- 
try, as well as in almost every other part of the world ! 

Why, California is now the fourth net postage revenue paying 
State in the Union, and the fifth tariff revenue paying State to 
the Treasury of the United States, — and yet she has not had an 
independent existence but a little over six years. In another part 
of this book, we have shown what she has done for the Atlantic 
States and the world, and what she is still doing for them and for 



69 

herself. Is it not strange, in consideration of these facts, that 
the Federal Government should exhibit such a parsimonious and 
niggardly feeling towards this State ? To show how little the 
authorities in Washington understand and appreciate their own, 
as well as our interests in this country, we will give two striking 
instances, which have recently come under our observation. 

After the new Custom House and Appraiser's buildings were 
erected, it was deemed by the Collector, and other officers of the 
Revenue service, that they should be enclosed by a substantial 
fence. They therefore addressed the Secretary of the Treasury 
on this subject. After mature deliberation, that distinguished 
functionary concluded that they should be enclosed, if the expense 
of doing so did not exceed ^owr hundred dollars ! What a gener- 
ous-minded old fogie Mr. Guthrie must be ! Why, four hundred 
dollars, in this country, would not be more than enough to pur. 
chase the rough timber necessary to enclose it. We will give 
another. 

Among the bogus grants confirmed by the recent Board of Land 
Commissioners, were those of the renowned Limantour, for about 
ten million of dollars worth of property, within the limits of San 
Francisco, — including Rincon Point, on which is located the United 
States Marine Hospital. Also, two separate grants for Alcatrass 
Island, on which are erected fortifications and a light-house, and 
the Farrallaone Islands, on which is likewise erected a light- 
house. Now, here is property of the United States, valued at 
perhaps something like four millions and a half of dollars, which 
the Federal Government stands in imminent danger of losing al- 
together, and yet, the authorities in Washington are comparative- 
ly giving themselves not the least concern about it. The citizens 
of San Francisco, who have been placed also in imminent danger 
by the confirmation of these Limantour titles, have subscribed 
between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars, and employed three 
able lawyers, to resist the confirmation of these titles by the Uni- 
ted States District Court of Northern California, and the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. Considering the amount of 
property the Government had involved in these suits, the citizens 
of San Francisco, and the Federal officers in California, invited 
the authorities in Washington to co-operate with them. They 
replied to our people, that they would consent to employ assist- 
ant counsel to co-operate with them, provided lie would not charge 



TO 

the Government a fee over five hundred dollars ! Is it possible 
that those who administer the Government of the United States, 
are so ignorant of California as to make such a proposition as 
this ? Why, the meanest pettifogger in California would feel in- 
sulted by it. By this proposition, the Government proposes to 
employ a counsel to fight this Limantour case, to employ all his 
time for perhaps two or three years, to contest its confirmation 
through the United States District Court for Northern California, 
and to assist the Attorney General of the United States to pre- 
vent its confirmation by the Supreme Court at Washington, and 
yet it expects this counsel to do all this for five hundred dollars ! 
The fact is, the Federal Government expects our people to protect 
its property, and it will no doubt abuse us if we do not. We are 
threatened, at this time, on all sides, — with a war with one or two 
large European Powers, and with very grave difficulties in Cen- 
tral America, — and yet the Government is not even willing to 
take the proper steps to defend the title to the property on which 
its own fortifications, and other public buildings, are erected in 
California. Such conduct is enough to bring the blush of shame 
to every American. 

It is but proper to admit that we have brought many of these 
difiicultics upon ourselves. We have forgotten our duty to this 
part of the country, arising from the strong dispqsition on the 
part of our public men, of all parties, to keep in with each reign- 
ing Administration in Washington, and the politicians on tlie 
other side of the continent. Owing to this very fact, the authori- 
ties in AVashington have always treated the Pacific coast with the 
most marked contempt. The State of California has only four 
votes in the Presidential Electoral College, and the adjacent Ter- 
ritories none whatever, and for this reason, California is a matter 
of very little concern to Presidential aspirants and President 
makers. It is a well known fact, that politicians deal in votes as 
merchants do in merchandise. The interests and welfare of Cali- 
fornia, therefore, will never command respect and attention, when 
they come in conflict with those States which can out vote her. 
We must, therefore, make the Government of the United States 
respect our demands, by some stronger power than the mere four 
votes we are entitled to give for the election of a President. The 
Federal Government, as well as the States on the other side of 
the continent, are now dependent upon us, and we will have to 



71 

test their patriotism aud sense of justice for us, by influences 
more potent than votes. The pocket nerve is more sensitive, with 
politicians, than the most sensitive nerve of their bodies. When 
that is touched, they can become patriotic very suddenly. Here 
is our strong point, and we must make it tell. 

The most of our politicians have greatly impaired their influ- 
ence and standing in this State, by becoming the apologists or 
defenders of the policy and course of the Government of the 
United States towards the Pacific coast. The Hon. William M. 
Gwin, who has been one of the most efficient and effective men 
from this State in Congress, has damaged his prospects on the 
Pacific coast immensely, owing to the very fact that he has had great 
influence with the " Powers That Be," in the Federal City. No 
man doubted his ability, or his devotion to the State ; but many 
became fearful that his influence with the Government was too 
great to be true, in all things, to California. This was the rock 
on which he partially foundered his future prospects in this State. 
Had he, from the start, resisted the aggressions of the Federal 
Government towards this country, his influence might have been 
omnipotent on the Pacific, at this time, and his standing in the 
country, as a public man, would have been as strong again as it 
is now ; while his influence with the authorities, in Washington, 
would not have been lessened one iota. Had he denounced the 
usurpation of the Government towards California, from the start, 
he would have held a position, as a Senator from this State, that 
would have made him, with the people of the United States, (but 
not the politicians,) one of the most prominent men in the country. 
We repeat, that this State has lost everything by being tied up to 
the political " dug-outs " and " bungoes," in Washington. 

It is idle for the politicians of the Pacific coast to think of sus- 
taining the " Powers That Be," in Washington, until we know 
how we are to stand with them. No political party can long 
maintain an existence, in this country, that will give a preference 
to these old Washington rats, over the people of the Pacilic coast. 
Every party has had satisfactory proof of this fact. Every pub- 
lic nmn, therefore, who expects to remain here, and to possess the 
conhdcnce and the support of the people, will have to take his 
position with this country, and stand by it to the last. Demo- 
crats, Know-Nothings, and Republicans, will all find this to be 
the case, and the sooner they take their positions the better. Be- 



72 

sides, they will lose nothing with the " Powers That Be," in doing 
so. Indeed, instead of losing, they will command the respect, if 
not the admiration of the authorities in Washington, and the 
people on the other side, by taking this position, and it is certain 
they will never be forgotten by the inhabitants of the Pacific 
coast, for their devotion to this country. In addition to all this, 
let us support no man for President who will not give the Pacific 
coast a Cabinet officer, and he must be a man whom all the peo- 
ple out here can trust. We need fear nothing, when we are true 
to ourselves. When the people of the Pacific coast are concerned 
for themselves, no one need be concerned for them. The Federal 
Government will do us justice, when it is satisfied that it can 
neither coax or drive us. 

When we take into consideration the strange and unnatural 
course pursued towards this country by the Parent Government, 
it is really astonishing how we have been able to accomplish so 
much. Had it not been for our vast mineral wealth, we certainly 
would have been doomed to a state of wretchedness and distress, 
which no people perhaps on this continent have ever experienced. 
The authorities at Washington can never lay the flattering unc- 
tion to their souls, that to them California is indebted any thanks, 
for what she has done for herself, and for what good she has ac- 
complished, and for what benefits she has conferred upon our 
whole country. Had we on the Pacific coast, depended upon the 
Government of the United States for assistance, to aid in the de- 
velopment of our resources, and for increasing the commerce and 
products of this country, we should have depended upon a broken 
reed. Indeed, instead of its seeking to protect and befriend us, 
it has acted towards us as if desirous to sink us to the deepest 
depths of despondency and humiliation. Had it succeeded in all 
of its plans for our injury, it would have only been necessary for 
it to crown its ignoble triumphs over us, by striking from the 
spangled banner the star that now glitters in the name of Califor- 
nia, and leave behind the stripe as a fit emblem of our degradation. 

From the facts narrated in the foregoing part of this work, it 
will be plainly seen that a majority of the statesmen, as well as 
a large proportion of the inhabitants of the Union, residing on 
the other side of the continent, have ever regarded our people 
and country with evident indifi'erence, if not contempt. They 
can hardly realise the fact that California, so remote from the 



73 

seat of the Parent Government, can be, in fact, a co-equal mem- 
ber of the confederated States of North America. They ac- 
knowledge that we have a rich country, but they act as if they 
regarded us as being a foreign State, and our people a mere band 
of adventurers. It is about time that they should be convinced 
of their error, and change their policy towards us, as the griev- 
ances of which we have so very justly complained, if persisted in, 
may very greatly impair the brotherly union and harmony of 
these two great divisions of the North American Republic. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

Let us see what our people have done for themselves, their 
country, and the entire civilized world, since they commenced 
laying broad and deep this new Anglo-American Empire on the 
Pacific. 

In the year 1848, we believe, the aggregate amount of bullion 
in the United States was officially reported, if we recollect cor- 
rectly, to be $130,000,000. Since then, there has been dug from 
the mines of California, by our hardy miners, about |p400,000,000 
in gold, and our mineral resources are admitted, by all who know 
the country, to be inexhaustible. The average annual exports of 
the products of California, amounts to about $60,000,000. This 
amount is far greater than any other State in the Union annually 
exports, of its own products. Indeed, it is almost as large as 
any two, of the old States of the Union combined, export of their 
own products alone. We have purchased and paid to our At- 
lantic brethren, for the products of their soil, merchandise, manu- 
factures, &c., since we have occupied the shores of the Pacific, 
$250,000,000. We have increased the value of the real and per- 
sonal property of the Atlantic States, within the last six years, 
over $200,000,000. Within the same time, we have kept the 
Federal Treasury, from the products of our mines, overflowing 
with revenue, and within the same time, also, we have been the 
means of increasing the ship tonnage of the United States over 
twelve hundred thousand tons. We have saved the banks, and 
the importing merchants of the Atlantic States, from threatened 



74 

pecuniary disasters, and our whole country from bankruptcy ; and 
we have protected the financial honor and credit of this entire 
Union, both at home and abroad. Our people, by their own vol- 
untary labor and outlays, have constructed tunnels, canals, ditches, 
bridges and roads, at a cost of ^35,000,000. We are now con- 
nected, by steamers, with the Pacific Ocean coast, in North and 
South America, from Puget Sound in the North, to Talcahuana in 
the South. Besides this, we have lines of sail vessels to all the 
principal commercial ports in the Pacific. Within the next five 
years, we will be connected with China, Japan, Australia and the 
Sandwich Islands, by lines of steamers, and with nearly every 
part of the globe by telegraph lines, whether the General Gov- 
ernment renders us assistence or not. We shall also, by that 
time, have under way a good distance, (perhaps as far as Salt 
Lake, in Utah Territory,) with or without the aid of Congress, 
the great National Continental Railroad. 

Our foreign commerce, within the next fifteen or twenty years 
from this time, must become incalculably large. We have already 
entered upon a contest with the great maritime States of the 
world, for the commercial supremacy of the Pacific. If the Gov- 
ernment of Washington, and our brethren of the Atlantic States, 
refuse to grant to us the same facilities as are and have been ex- 
tended to other parts of the Union, we can and v»^ill maintain 
this contest single-handed. We have marked out our course, and 
we do not intend to take any step backwards. Two-thirds of 
the human race reside on the Islands, within and around the 
shores of the Pacific Ocean. Our position on this continent is 
such as to enable us to have access and intercourse with them 
during almost every month of the year. Our commerce is now 
sweeping across, in every direction, the broad main of this Ocean, 
and we shall soon have it extended to every sea, bay, harbor, 
roadstead, and river connected with it. From the orient to the 
Occident, and from the icebergs of the Polar regions to the ver- 
dant plains of the Torrid zone, American connnerce is now ex- 
tending its sway ; but in no part of the world has it increased 
and progressed to such an extent, as it has done in the Pacific, 
since California became a part of the American Union. Instead 
of our State, therefore, being regarded with indiiference by the 
Government at Washington, and the people of the Atlantic 
States, we should be looked upon as the brightest star in the 



75 

galaxy of the Uuion — as the richest State in the tiara of our 

National rejoicing — as a State, 

" Great, glorious and free, 

First pride of the Union, first gem of tlio sea." 

We rejoice in all the great achievments of our country — in all 
her yictories in war and in peace, whether on land or on sea. 
Her achievements in peace are no less renowned than those of 
war. While we are united, we are strong, for " united we stand, 
divided we fall." A glorious future awaits the destiny of our 
whole country, if we are but true to ourselves. The tonnage of 
our commercial marine exceeds, at this time, that of any other 
power on the globe. In this respect, Ave lead all the nations of 
the world. Our flag now floats on every sea and ocean, and long 
may it wave, as an illustrious ensign of the strength and the glory 
of our country. 

Who is there, that is a native of the Fast Anchored Isle, and 
is not proud of the magnitude of her achievements and power? 
One of her greatest statesmen, when alluding to her stupendous 
sway, on land and sea, said of her, that " the sun never sets upon 
her territories ; that her military posts are dotted around the en- 
tire globe, and their morning drum-beat, following the course of 
the sun, sends forth continual strains of the martial airs of Eng- 
land," — and thus one of her most eminent of poets has immor- 
talized her in song — 

" Britannia needs no buhvarL's, 
No towers along the steep ; 
Her home is on the mountain wave, 
Her pathway on the deep." 

Why should we not, too, glory in the expansion of our coun- 
try's' dominions, and her commercial triumphs on the ocean, as 
well as her peaceful sway among the nations of the earth. Let 
us away with all sectional feeling ; away with all political and 
geographical divisions ; away with all national strife, and as 
men, and as Americans, let us look upon our whole- country, how- 
ever bounded, as still our country, to be defended with all our 
hearts and hands, as " the land of the free, and the home of the 
brave," and as possessing for us all, one home, one country, one 
constitution, and one destiny. 

We have now, one State and two Territories on the Pacific, 
and if Utah may be considered as belonging to the Pacific por- 
tion of the Union, we then have one State and three Territories. 



76 

In six years from tliis time, there will be three States formed out 
of the Territories of Washington and Oregon. Three States 
can, and no doubt will, be formed out of California, and three out 
of Utah and a part of New Mexico. This will make nine States 
on the Pacific coast, and give us a representation in the United 
States Senate of eighteen Senators, and in the House of Repre- 
sentatives at least twenty-five members. In the mean time, Low- 
er California and Sonora will as naturally fall into our hands, as 
the ripe pear falls to the ground. When tliis takes place, we will 
have three more States on this side of the continent — being within 
one of the number of original States that secured the indepen- 
dence of America — that ordained and established the Federal 
Constitution, and that laid the foundations of the most enlight- 
ened and powerful Republic the world has ever seen. These 
twelve States will then give us twenty-four Senators, and some 
thirty-two members of the House of Representatives. 

The population of these Pacific States of America will number, 
by that 4ime, not far from two millions and a half of souls. We 
will then have also a sea coast of over three thousand miles in 
extent, with some of the most safe, accessible, and spacious har- 
bors on the globe. For mineral and agricultural wealth, all this 
region of country exceeds that of any other portion of the world. 
It is, indeed, a land of promise and abundance, for the enterpris- 
ing and industrious of all climes and all countries. No people, 
on any part of this great sphere we inhabit, can boast of so salu- 
brious a climate, and so productive a country. 

The Past and the Present of the Pacific I have but imperfectly 
presented, but the actual of the Future has yet to be seen. Yet, 
far in the distant future, I can distinctly behold the generations 
that are to follow us, rising into being ; and by their enterprise, 
I can see them establishing new civilized States and Territories, 
in this vast region of the world. I can see this mighty ocean, 
whose waters now wash our shores, covered with ships and steam- 
ers, sweeping along its broad main, and exchanging the products 
of Nations. I can see new temples dedicated to Almighty God, 
occupying the places of those where formerly stood temples dedi- 
cated to wood and stone. I can sec the public school house rising 
on those spots now consecrated to the war-dance and the funeral 
pyre. I can see and hear read the works of new statesmen, phi- 
losophers, biographers, historians and poets, who have recorded 



77 

the wonderful events, the spirit and the patriotism of their times, 
that they might breathe them to a future age. I can distinctly 
hear the children of the future, " in the vales and on the mount," 
joyously singing songs in praise of the freedom, dominion and 
glory of America. I can hear, upon each returning Fourth of 
July, the military bands playing the martial airs of this Land of 
the Free, for a people whose bosoms are swelling with pride and 
delight. I can behold new countries, inhabited by a free, patri- 
otic, enlightened and energetic people, over which proudly floats 
the stars and stri})es of the Union. I can distinctly see new ora- 
tors, in the halls of legislation, while maintaining and upholding 
the rights and interests of their country, holding their listeners 
in breathless attention, by captivating them with their eloquence ; 
and I can hear, on each early morn and dewey eve, the cannon's 
opening roar, from new American ramparts and fortifications, on 
and along the shores of this ocean. The child is even now born, 
who may behold these wondrous and glorious events. 

The triumphs which our people have already achieved, is an 
index of what may be accomplished in the future. They have 
already overcome almost superhuman difficulties and adversities ; 
and this, too, they have done, in the face of the most determined 
opposition against them, on the part of the General Government. 
Indeed, the difficulties they have overcome, and the many great 
deeds they have performed, are truly wonderful. If we shall 
continue to advance, for the next six years, as we have done for 
the six that is past, we will then exhibit a progress unparalleled 
in the world's great history. Our position and resources, as well 
as our progress in all that makes a people enlightened, wealthy 
and powerful, arc already the subject of surprise and admiration, 
both at home and abroad. But if we have made such vast pro- 
gress, within the last six years, what vf ill be our condition witliin 
the next six years to come, when we shall have, by that time, as 
Mr. Benton has said, " risen to the dignity of an Empire." The 
future of the Pacific must, therefore, form one of the most bril- 
liant, instructive and remarkable chapters in the history of human 
civilization. 

In conlusion, I beg to be allowed a few words personal to my- 
self. All the evils which have been inflicted upon this State by 
the Federal Government, I foresaw, and predicted through my 
paper, the California Courier, in 1850 and '51 would come upon us. 



I resisted tlicn, the sale and the lease of the mineral lands ; I re- 
sisted the establishment of the Board of Land Commissioners, 
and the outlawing of the titles to our lands ; I resisted the Assay 
Office swindle ; I resisted the policy, of shipping out men, from 
the Atlantic, to fill our offices, and to crowd the pioneers, for I 
knew that they would accumulate all the money they could, and 
then leave us ; I said then, that the authorities in "Washington, 
cared nothing about California, but to plunder it ; I said then, 
that Congress would never consent to give us a.ny continental 
road until we were determined to withhold the precious metals of 
this country, from the use of the General Government, and the 
people of the xV.tlantic States, or take some other means to strike 
terror into the hearts of our oppressors, and thank God, this evi- 
dence is on record. Every word I then wrote, has proved to be 
true. 

During the whole of this time, however, I had almost to bite 
the dust, from my straightened pecuniary circumstances. Mr. 
Collector King's policy towards the State, as well as that of a 
majority of the Federal Officers, in California, also, many of the 
members of Mr. Fillmore's Administration, and the members of 
Cougres, was just the reverse of mine, I was therefore pro- 
scribed. When it was found, that neither money or offices would 
purchase my silence — would make me abandon my position, then 
I was to be crowded to the wall, I asked from them no quarters^ 
however, and I gave them none, although, from losses by four de- 
structive fires, and other adversities, I lost all the money and pro- 
perty I possessed. The only regret I had on account of these mis- 
fortunes, was the fact, that some of my friends, also lost money 
by the disasters which befell me. Let them not think that I have 
forgotten them. But, although the men who pursued me with 
such violence, and succeeded in making me poor, triumphed for a 
while, yet thank God, I have lived long enough to see about all 
of them overwhelmed with discomfiture. They have all fled back 
to the Atlantic States, with their ill-gotten gains, while I ain still 
here and " still live" to write the history of the past, and again 
to defend the interests and rights of this State, as well as to con- 
sign these once favorite minions and pets of Uncle Sam, in Cali- 
fornia, to merited oblivion and contempt. I am here, too, sus- 
tained by the proud consciousness that my course then, has been 
approved by the people of the Pacific coast, and theirs has been 



79 

condemned. Who, now has triumphed ? Capt. Macondray and 
others are still here also, who were then threatened, that if they gave 
their support to me. they should suffer for it, and nearly every old 
Californian, who followed a legitimate business for support, and 
who resisted then the encroachments of the Federal Government 
upon this State, (who are living) are likewise here, ready, as of 
yore, to defend their rights and property, and to vindicate the in- 
tegrity and independence of the State. 

The approbation, with which the lectures, containing the sub- 
stance of this work, has been received by the public, has been a 
source of no ordinary pride and gratification to me. Indeed, in 
consideration of this fact, I have considered myself justifiable in 
adopting, on the conclusion of this work, the language used by the 
great Emmet, when on trial for his life, although his position and 
mine are vastly different ; when his judges charged him with be- 
ing the keystone of the combination of Irishmen, who had leagued 
together for the overthrow of the liberties of his country, he re- 
plied, to his accusers by saying : — " My Lords you do me honor 
overmuch — you have given to the subaltern, all the honors of a 
superior." That I should feel proud of the approbation of my 
fellow-citizens for the course I have pursued ever since I have 
lived on the Pacific coast, and for the labors I have performed for 
this part of our country is but natural. "Who could help it? 
But I am not vain, nor shall I be puffed up with conceit, should 
this work be approved by those for whose interest and welfare it 
has been written. I have made this country my permanent home. 
Here will I die, and here shall my body be buried. May that 
Good Providence which has so long preserved us a nation, 
continue to watch over, and to direct the destinies of our be- 
loved country, until that day shall come, when, as Mr. Calhoun 
has most beautifully expressed it, — " Heaven shall usher in the 
dawn of the earth's great jubilee." 






J. W. SULLIVAN, 

NEWSPAPER AND PERIODICAL 



^ Iff 1 



D 



AXU GENERAL 



AGENCY OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE, 

WASHINCTO-^ STREET, CUSTOM-HOUSE PLACE, 
ALSO, THE AGENT FOR THE PACIFIC COAST 

OV THE 

PAST, THi PRESENT, Al THE FUTURE 

OF THE PACIFIC, 

BY JAMES M. CRANE. 

PlilCTi: 75 CENTS PER COPY. 

Ml orders for the Work must be addressed to J. W. Sullivan^ 
San Francisco, Ccdifornin. 



Ill lit |f t ^mtiif. 

STERETT & CO. 

NEARIA' OPITiSITK TIIK I'OST OKKIOE. SAX FRANCISCO, 

./ire prepared to print, at short notice, and upon the lowest terms. 



Books, 
Hand-bills. 
Check Books, 



Pamphlets, 
Cards, 
Receipt Books, 



Circulars, 

Posters, 

Bill-heads, 



A share of public patronage is respectfully solicited. 



I 



I 



